Grand Shanghai's exterior doesn't garner much attention but step in and be transported back in time to the 1930 - 1960s where nightclubs were a rage. Everything from the tables, lamp shades, dark wood flooring and two blade fans down to the toilets, were reminiscent of a typical nightclub. Pretty much like those you see on TV when Shanghai Triad was aired. Completing the picture was a beguiling songstress belting out a repertoire of popular tunes from that era.
A cold dish always gets the appetite going. Consisting of a slice of chicken, half an egg with roe, deep fried eel and strands of jellyfish, it was just short of terrible in the presentation department. There was no proper placement of the food and no colours to bring out the dish. No garnishes, nothing. That aside, the chicken was cold and rather normal, but nothing to shout about. The deep fried eel was crispy and sweet, which was a rather good way to start things off. A pity about the minimal portions though. The jellyfish was springy and tasted strangely like eating a softer version of beef tripe. Not that its bad, but its just slightly different. Last but not least, the egg. I had problems with this one although I'm a big fan of eggs. It looked every bit a hard boiled egg, just that the egg white was softer and more jelly like. The egg yolk, on the other hand, was a gooey semi solid mass which reeked strongly of raw egg. Top it up with loads of fish roe and you get something that's unbelievably raw and has the occasional pops (I just love biting into the fish roe). I believe (I'm just speculating, don't quote me) that the egg was boiled at a temperature of about 60-70 degrees Celsius for a moderate period of time to achieve such a texture.
The heavyweight dish of the set menu. The Braised Superior Shark's Fin in Brown Sauce alone costs $45 in the ala carte menu! I'm not sure if there's any difference though because I haven't tried ordering it ala carte yet. But it was good. The fins were of moderately good quality and were rather plentiful. The brown sauce was light on the palate and not too starchy. The accompanying plate of beansprouts (with fried Yunnan ham I believe) tasted best when eaten with the soup and not alone.
A rather humble dish, but the Braised Spare Ribs "Wuxi" style's beauty lies in it's simplicity. A single rib served with a stalk of vegetable and a bread stick man tou. The meat came cleanly off the bone without much resistance and was tender. The gravy played a key role in this dish without it coming across as too strong but instead played on its subtlety, allowing the meat to slowly soak up the essence and diffuse through with every bite.
The Deep Fried Cod Fish with Sweet & Sour Sauce and Pinenut wasn't too fantastic. Sure the batter was nicely done and tasty, but it masked the sweetness of the cod fish, which was really a pity. It would have probably tasted the same if other types of fish were used.
The Shanghai Fried Rice wasn't spectacular at all, even though it was one of the recommended dishes. The rice tasted strongly of pepper and nothing else. The ingredients didn't provide any visual appeal nor did they add any taste into this dish. So basically its bland plus bland, which still gives you bland, save for the strong dosage of pepper.
The Shanghai Pork & Crabmeat Dumplings aka Xiao Long Bao got me really excited as I had heard much about them. My expectations proved to be this dish's undoing as I didn't find it good, much less fantastic. For one, the skin was a little too thick and it just didn't have that explode in your mouth kind of feeling. Decent, but I've had better.
Mango Sago - A pretty much standard dessert everywhere you go. This one was a little different in that they added milk into it, making it a little more coagulated and sweet. A small but nice twist to the this very common dish and a great way to end dinner on a high note.
Dropped by an old friend since my gf and I were in the City Hall area and our stomachs were crying out loud from lack of food. The old friend that I refer to is none other than Szechuan Court, which I had the chance to do a writeup on some months back courtesy of my friend who works at Raffles.
One of the more traditional Chinese restaurants decor wise, that I've been to, Szechuan Court has nice booth seats shrouded by thin translucent curtains that can be drawn to create a more intimate eating area amidst a third story view of the neighbouring Esplanade (Its quite good actually!). Coupled with a lush red sofa and red film partitions, it shouts oriental through and through.
Braised Homemade Egg Beancurd with Shredded Abalone - Whenever I see the word homemade, my expectations inch up a notch, for better or for worse. In this case, it was for the worse. The beancurd was smooth and silky but barely tasty. Texture wise, it tended more towards the Tau Pok side, which I personally don't really fancy. The accompanying gravy was thick and starchy but I couldn't hardly make out(both visual and taste) the dried scallops
Camphor Wood and Fragrant Tea Leaves Smoked Duck - I remember ordering this dish the last time I was here and was very much unimpressed by it. This time was no exception. The duck, though crispy, was way too dry and didn't have any tea taste whatsoever. The meat this time round was a little too overcooked as well, unlike the previous visit where the meat still retained a reddish hue.
Cod Fish Steamed with Superior Soy Sauce - The fish was fresh and sweet but a little too soft. I would have personally preferred the meat to be a little firmer. Another thing which I didn't really like was the fact that the fish came with its skin attached. I know that most fishes are served with their skin intact but this is probably the only place I know of that does it with cod fish.
Szechuan Fried Rice with Shrimp - A most excellent fried rice and definitely the highlight of the evening. Each grain of rice was homogeneously coated with egg and fried till lightly charred, giving rise to a nice and even Wok Hei taste. Thought slightly drier than your normal fried rice, it was a pleasure to eat and didn't come across as too difficult to swallow, especially with the generous serving of prawn cubes.
A still decent dinner emptied our pockets by about $46, after a 50% discount. Take away that discount and I definitely will not return, not for the quality of food. Will you? On a side note, service was acceptable, but could have been better and faster.
Purportedly one of the top few Chinese restaurants in Singapore that serves Cantonese food, Golden Peony has won numerous accolades and awards over the years for its exquisite food. Weirdly enough, not much has been written or said about it though. To find out if Golden Peony really stood up to its stash of awards, a few of us had dinner there on a late Thursday evening.
Located at Conrad Centennial Hotel just next to Millenia Walk, Golden Peony's interior was reminiscent of Hua Ting's. Everything from the layout to the chairs to the wooden beams were vaguely similar. It's not to say that the interior wasn't nice, just that I wasn't too impressed.
quintessential dish at every Chinese dinner - the ever versatile Peking Duck, where you wrap the skin up with crepes and have the restaurant cook the meat in anyway you want it. We chose to have it diced up, fried and served with lettuce. The result was a nicely stir fried lump of duck cubes with chestnut to give it that crunchy texture and served up on a lettuce. I did find the meat a little too salty, but the lettuce effectively balanced out the salt level. The only other place where I've had it done this way was at Min Jiang at One North, whose rendition was on par with Golden Peony's.
As for the skin, it was crispy and served up with egg crepes, which didn't come across as heavy as I had expected. Light and palatable would be most apt in describing it. Only two gripes though. First, the skin was a tad too oily, as evident by the shimmer on the skin. Second, each of us only got 3 slices of skin. The duck must have been ridiculously small, otherwise can someone tell me what happened to the rest of the skin?! On a side note, this is the first time I'm seeing a Peking Duck going for a lower price than a Roast Duck. I honestly wonder why.
The general fault with tea marinated or smoked dishes is that more often than not, the taste of tea is lacking. This was the case with the Tea Marinated Pork Ribs. Granted, the ribs were quite a size, tender and savoury from the sweet sauce coated on it, but with no tea taste, it could jolly well pass off as braised pork ribs. Then again, I quite like it, just that the pieces of meat kept getting lodged in between the crevices of my teeth.
Homemade Beancurd with Asparagus & XO sauce - A less than outstanding dish, but decent nevertheless. The beancurd wasn't silky but came across as firm with a pleasant lingering aftertaste. The asparagus was just asparagus, albeit two miserly ones.
Salted Yolk Prawns seems to be increasingly common in restaurants nowadays. But not many restaurants are able to do it well. Such is the case with Golden Peony. The batter, though light and crispy, was a little too bland for my liking. The prawns were relatively fresh but weren't exactly very sweet. In fact, they had this fresh water taste which turned me off quite a bit.
At $20 a pop, Lobster Noodles screams plain rip off. For starters, the noodles didn't seem to be of a handmade nature, more of a machine manufactured product actually. They were a little springy, that's about it. The baby lobsters were fresh but weren't exactly meaty and trust me, you get more shell then meat. Not that they tasted very sweet as well.
Another rip off at $4 for a portion the size of your neighbourhood hawker centre 50 cents Tao Huay. To say the least, the Tao Huay wasn't as smooth as I had expected and the syrup didn't permeate thoroughly, rendering only some parts of the Tao Huay sweet. This definitely pales in comparison to the one I had at Si Chuan Dou Hua.
Sheer disappointment pretty much sums up my thoughts about Golden Peony. I had gone there expecting a fair bit in terms of food quality but left disappointed. Add the fact that the 6 of us chalked up a sizeable bill of almost $473 and you can't help but feel ripped off. Service was generally quite good though. Now heres some food for thought. How did Golden Peony manage to snag so many accolades with its merely above average food?
Changi Village is probably one of the last remaining rustic, laid back places in Singapore and from the gateway to Pulau Ubin. So it is not surprising that many seafood places have sprouted up at this seaside enclave over the years, one of which is Ubin First Stop Restaurant where we opted to have lunch at one sunny weekday afternoon.
This seafood place is sandwiched between Changi Village hawker centre and the open air carpark and is reminiscent of an old kampung with its main structure elevated on low concrete stilts. The open air kitchen sits in a small seperate shack just outside the stairs leading to the dining area. Very nostalgic.
Soup of the day - This was a simple winter melon soup (if I remember correctly). A tad bland and a little oily. But easy on the palate.
Stir Fried Kang Kong - Nicely fried with a hint of wok hei. Not too limp from overcooking as well. Just watch out for the overdose of fiery chilli. But then again, it could be that none of us at the table had a high level of tolerance for spiciness.
Fried Fish - The fish was deep fried and drenched in a semi viscous salty gravy but still managed to maintain a mild crispiness on the exterior. Flesh was relatively fresh and firm and quite an enjoyable dish overall.
Thai Style Fried Chicken - Too much flour, too much thai sauce, rendering this dish rather unpleasant. The taste bud killer sauce also ensured that there was no chicken taste of whatsoever, just a glob of flour laden piece of unidentifiable meat.
Deep Fried Prawn Ball - Another flour obsessed dish - so fluffed up until I had problems locating the real prawn meat. Okay I am exaggerating, but 50% flour and 50% prawn just isn't funny. It was so gross that none of us wanted past our fair share of this dish, which meant leftovers.
The set lunch cost the 5 of us about $51, which isn't too expensive honestly. But factor in food quality and I'll probably take my chances at Macdonalds instead. Rice was free flow though, if that's any consolation.
Nice of them to not have a minmum spending for their private rooms for a weekday dinner when most other hotels have. I didnt like the idea of having to hit a minimum amount even before I see what I like on the menu, so plus points for them!
It was a family dinner for 12pax and the round table was just about nice enough for us, although the table usually accommodates 10pax. Service was quick and efficient as well, so no complaints.
We decided on the $68 per pax set menu to make things easier for everyone:
Steamed crabmeat and minced shrimp dumpling in egg white souffle & Golden-fried duck with portugese sauce wrapped in crispy filo pastry - Presented very nicely on a 3-compartment long plate with a cute flower in between. The dumpling was excellent wiht the seafood fresh and crunchy, and paired very well with the egg white souflle which was really chinese chawamushi, only lighter. The duck was good with no gamey taste and not tough at all; the pastry was freshly and not a hint of staleness at all. My European side of the family liked this immensely.
Corn and chicken soup - We replaced the black chicken soup with this as was afraid that the european guests will not take to it. Very good chicken soup and lots of corn to keep the soup crunchy. Some found the consistency too gooey but I thought it was nto too bad.
Baked chicken roll with onion marinated with lemongrass sauce - Nice lightly marinated chicken roll (which was actually fresh chicken meat) on a bed of crunchy onions and a silver of veg. The onions could have been sauteed more as not many people like onions the crunchy. Again, the meat tasted like fresh chicken instead of frozen meat.
Sauteed cubes of sea perch with pine nuts and vegetables served in a golden nest - This tasted alot like cod for some reason. The veg are corn and cubes of bell peppers which provided some colour, but a pity that the pine nuts were over-roased which made them quite bitter. The nest of vermicilli was good too, though I felt it can be more crispy.
Steamed mian xian noodle with river king prawn in chinese wine broth - super duper light 'main course' for a chinese dinner which managed to be flavourful and satisfying at the same time. The broth did taste of the wine and the prawn was huge.
Red date paste in crispy filo pastry served with pineapple sauce - The pastry was okay, but I left the paste alone as am not a big fan of dates and the smell and taste was quite overwhelmimg for me.
Was a good experience as I didnt have very high hopes when I went. But it scored quite well on every aspect! Maybe I'll try the dim sum the next time :D
Don't know why the Vivo City and Raffles City outlets have not been listed but that's why I am writing this under the Orchard Central outlet.
5 girls and 1 guy on a 5pm weekday means the place was not too packed for our big group. We were greedy and ordered 5 tarts ($6.50 per tart) to share with drinks of course:
Strawberry mont blanc - The mont blanc could have been more, although the taste blended very well with the berries. The taste of the nut did not come through as being very obvious admist all the cream.
Blueberry - Topped off with real blueberries and blueberry jelly cubes. The jelly were a nice touch and something different to the otherwise boring tart.
Chocolate banana - Anything chocolate must be more popular than the rest of the flavours. The banana slices were thankfully not too mushy and the chocolate actually provided a but more flavour than the rest of our choices. A good match I think!
Mango - A little too stingy with the mango cubes and slices.
Mixed fruit - mixed fruit is well, mixed fruit. Some mango, kiwi, banana, strawberry, blueberry.
It did feel like it was not too sinful a dessert break, maybe becasue of the very light Japanese cream. But after a while, they all started to taste the same except for the chocolate banana. I liked the tart base too, very fresh and light.
My earl grey was okay, but they dont serve honey, only sugar syrup. And I think having wrong orders is really not forgivable when we were the 2nd occupied table. But for girls, this is an outlet to feel like having your cake and eating it too. Literally.
With drinks, the total bill for 5 tarts and drinks came up to $78 which I didnt expect. But I guess it could have been alot more expenseive than say canele.
It was dinner at Miyabi again. We didn't have a reservation but as they had just opened for business, we managed to snag a table in the main dining hall without much difficulty. The interior was quite simply done up with 2 side stalls for teppanyaki and the rest of the area for ala carte dining. Nothing too spectacular.
Chawamushi - The chawamushi was not very smooth, leaning towards a firm custard like texture instead. Flavour wise, the egg taste was apparent but did seem a little bland overall. Still decent though.
Sushi & Tempura Combo - I can't deny the aesthetic attractiveness of the sushi but found the rice to be rather loose and lacking in vinegar. The relative freshness of the raw seafood made it more bearable though but probably not something I would order again. The tempura batter was a little too frilly for my liking but on the upside, it wasn't overbearingly thick and the prawns were sizeable. Decent enough.
Apparently there was a promotion going on for the sirloin, which could be done either teppanyaki style or grilled with teriyaki. We chose the former and opted for it to be done medium. Although the meat came a little overcooked, it was still tender and juicy, which was rather surprising. That said, it wasn't sweet and I could only make out the strong taste of the garlic. Rather disappointing.
Food quality was average but definitely better than the likes of Sake Sushi. However, pricing is slightly steeper as well, at about $120 for the 3 of us. I definitely won't be back in a hurry.
Came here for a leisure weekday lunch and it was not packed at all, with a few tables looking like business lunches and corporate partners instead of your usual family crowd. Thus place was nice and quiet, and probably felt more upmarket than its counterparts at Central and Wheelock.
The place can be quite hard to find for 1st timers: its not visible from the main courtyard. You'll have to access it by climbing up a fleet of stairs near Insomnia, right smack in the middle of Chijmes.
Gyoza - 6 compact pieces of the dumplings decorated with a veg on top, all on a hot plate. Very nicely grilled and served very hot, although I though the gyozas could have a but more bite than just all meat. The slightly tart sauce that came with it perked up the dish though.
Salmon roll - Cute presentation of the rolls, and salmon was very fresh although nothing excellent. Quite a mouthful for me though, but some people call it value for money.
Deep fried squid - this is on their seasonal menu, although I couldnt figure out why squid was seasonal. Small portion of bite-sized squid (note: not the rings) nicely batetred and deep-fried. A very morish snack to accompany the meal.
Hotpot rice set (seafood) - My weakness for seafood made me order this. The set came with chawamushi, miso soup, pickles, salmon sashimi, fruits, and green tea ice cream. The chawamushi was studded with ednamame peas and had ginko nuts and chicken in it. Quite heavy for me compared to normal steam egg. I had expected the hot pot to give the rice some fragrance but it did not, disappointingly. There seem to be also not much taste, except for the soya sauce that was mixed into the rice.
The seafood had half a prawn, fish roe, fish, scallops, and salmon. It looks like a luxurious combi but somehow I felt the seafood and the rice didnt gel together and tasted like they were separate components instead. The scallops and salmon was not cooked although the idea was for them to cook themselves within the heat of the pot; and I had to send it back to get them to grill it again. I can understand if salmon was not cooked thoroughly, but scallops???
Green tea ice cream - This was part of the set and was the highlight of the lunch for me. Served very chilled in a chilled porcelain bowl, it was one of the better ones I've tried so far. Smooth with just the right amount of 'grainy' feel to taste home-made and very macha than commercial green tea.
Green tea - Probably made from the same green tea leaves or mix, but I had to highlight that they apparently make their own blend for the tea, and it did taste so.
Service was not too bad, perhaps given that there were plenty of staff to handle the half occupied place. Requests for tea refill, side plates were answered quite quickly.
I actually didnt know how much was the bill as it was a treat, the amount spent is an estimate based on what I remember from the menu. The quality I think can still be improved, but because I like the place, I'll return to try their other stuff.
My first visit to MBS and I was quite excited to try what they are capable of in terms of food. It was a casual business lunch so buffet at Rise sounded like the best option to suit everyone's tastes.
Rise is located right smack in the middle of the high-ceiling Marina Bay Sands hotel lobby and very open-concept, so much so that you may walk right past it thinking it was the hotel lounge. Seatings are elevated and plenty of lush to also provide a sense of privacy from the lobby traffic. Remember to ask the cab to stop at the hotel lobby if applicable as it can be a fair walk if they drop you off at the Casino lobby instead.
Staff was eager to please although a bit clueless. We arrived early at 11:45am and asked if the buffet is ready. Staff said oh the buffet starts at 11:30am, to which we asked if it means we can go get the food already. He then said he needed to re-confirm the timing and come back to us. Huh??
The set up and variety looked promising, but unfortunately, the key word was 'looked'.
Soup & Bread - 3 varieties: tomato, mushroom, beef. I only tried the mushroom and found it quite good; I could taste actual chunks of mushrooms in it but after a few spoonfuls it started to be a little salty.
Cheese - A suprisingly better than expected selection of cheese, something I dont see alot at buffet lunches. The few I tried tasted too strong for me but taste is subjective of course.
Starters - normal items like salad leaves, potato mayo, sausage and potato salad etc.
Seafood - 4 varities: prawns, crabs, scallops, mussels (which I didnt try). The small-medium prawns were not chilled enough although it was buried under ice, and came without the heads. It did not have that sweet crunch of really fresh prawns either and was really just okay. The crabs had the same problem. I was quite disappointed as I had expected more out of MBS quality. The only plus point is when a staff saw me struggling with the crab claw, he offered to take it away to crack it for me.
Sashimi - I only tried the salmon but it too was served not chilled enough. I wonder if its the ice they are using????
Hot food - Nothing wow thus I didnt try alot. It was more common fare like dim sum, noodles cooked to order, pasta, sweet sour chicken, mushrooms, kailan etc.
Desserts - A big selection and I tried a few but was not wowed. Fruit tarts, chocolate cakes and mousses, bread butter pudding, biscotti, madelines, and mango pomelo dessert. Plenty of fruits though.
Coffee and tea is included in the buffet and you can take your pick of earl grey, english breakfast etc. We asked if only normal coffee is included or can we have cuppucino lattes etc; and they needed to check again. Turned out to be only normal coffee, FYI.
Ambience is nice and airy with a very alfresco feel, and although it is situated in the hotel lobby, it wasn't too noisy. You can spot business guys in suits or families on a weekday leisure post-casino meal.
I had expected better from MBS actually. I do agree that variety is good but sometimes I prefer quality more than quantity. And none of the items stood out. The host paid for all of us which was good, as this is one buffet I will not pay to return to. For the same price, there are definitely better buffet options out there.
Have heard about the long queue at the outlet at Central so was quite curious to try and new outlet at Cuppage. Having the 1-4-1 coupon from 8Days helped of course.
They don't take reservations so had to leave my name at 7pm on a weekday evening for an indoor seating. Small seating as well so the place fills up quite quickly.
Tonkusen Toroniku ($16.80) - this came with 3 choices of soup base: shio (salt), miso, or spicy. I picked the shio after reading up prior to my visit and found it very nicely balanced, with just the right amount of fragrant but not overbearing milky porky broth. Didnt taste like there was an overkill of salt as well.
The ramen itself was a bit thinner than most but had the right amount of spring in it and thankfully not overcooked.
The supposedly highlight of the dish was the pork cheeks which came on a side plate, as with all the garnishes. Clever of them. It was the first time I had pork cheeks and my first piece tasted wonderfully tender and rich. But the salt quantum and fatty bits took a toll on me a few pieces later, with me carefully scrapping off the fats for the last few and ultimately not finishing it.
I had a taste of the spicy base also, which I thought was quite good as it had the fragrance of the bean paste. Nice.
Despite the pork cheeks being overly salty, I will still pick this over Ippudo in general. Better soup and better ramen :D
1=SGD 0.0587
Grand Shanghai's exterior doesn't garner much attention but step in and be transported back in time to the 1930 - 1960s where nightclubs were a rage. Everything from the tables, lamp shades, dark wood flooring and two blade fans down to the toilets, were reminiscent of a typical nightclub. Pretty much like those you see on TV when Shanghai Triad was aired. Completing the picture was a beguiling songstress belting out a repertoire of popular tunes from that era.
A cold dish always gets the appetite going. Consisting of a slice of chicken, half an egg with roe, deep fried eel and strands of jellyfish, it was just short of terrible in the presentation department. There was no proper placement of the food and no colours to bring out the dish. No garnishes, nothing. That aside, the chicken was cold and rather normal, but nothing to shout about. The deep fried eel was crispy and sweet, which was a rather good way to start things off. A pity about the minimal portions though. The jellyfish was springy and tasted strangely like eating a softer version of beef tripe. Not that its bad, but its just slightly different. Last but not least, the egg. I had problems with this one although I'm a big fan of eggs. It looked every bit a hard boiled egg, just that the egg white was softer and more jelly like. The egg yolk, on the other hand, was a gooey semi solid mass which reeked strongly of raw egg. Top it up with loads of fish roe and you get something that's unbelievably raw and has the occasional pops (I just love biting into the fish roe). I believe (I'm just speculating, don't quote me) that the egg was boiled at a temperature of about 60-70 degrees Celsius for a moderate period of time to achieve such a texture.
The heavyweight dish of the set menu. The Braised Superior Shark's Fin in Brown Sauce alone costs $45 in the ala carte menu! I'm not sure if there's any difference though because I haven't tried ordering it ala carte yet. But it was good. The fins were of moderately good quality and were rather plentiful. The brown sauce was light on the palate and not too starchy. The accompanying plate of beansprouts (with fried Yunnan ham I believe) tasted best when eaten with the soup and not alone.
A rather humble dish, but the Braised Spare Ribs "Wuxi" style's beauty lies in it's simplicity. A single rib served with a stalk of vegetable and a bread stick man tou. The meat came cleanly off the bone without much resistance and was tender. The gravy played a key role in this dish without it coming across as too strong but instead played on its subtlety, allowing the meat to slowly soak up the essence and diffuse through with every bite.
The Deep Fried Cod Fish with Sweet & Sour Sauce and Pinenut wasn't too fantastic. Sure the batter was nicely done and tasty, but it masked the sweetness of the cod fish, which was really a pity. It would have probably tasted the same if other types of fish were used.
The Shanghai Fried Rice wasn't spectacular at all, even though it was one of the recommended dishes. The rice tasted strongly of pepper and nothing else. The ingredients didn't provide any visual appeal nor did they add any taste into this dish. So basically its bland plus bland, which still gives you bland, save for the strong dosage of pepper.
The Shanghai Pork & Crabmeat Dumplings aka Xiao Long Bao got me really excited as I had heard much about them. My expectations proved to be this dish's undoing as I didn't find it good, much less fantastic. For one, the skin was a little too thick and it just didn't have that explode in your mouth kind of feeling. Decent, but I've had better.
Mango Sago - A pretty much standard dessert everywhere you go. This one was a little different in that they added milk into it, making it a little more coagulated and sweet. A small but nice twist to the this very common dish and a great way to end dinner on a high note.
See all my pictures here
Rating given:
Dropped by an old friend since my gf and I were in the City Hall area and our stomachs were crying out loud from lack of food. The old friend that I refer to is none other than Szechuan Court, which I had the chance to do a writeup on some months back courtesy of my friend who works at Raffles.
One of the more traditional Chinese restaurants decor wise, that I've been to, Szechuan Court has nice booth seats shrouded by thin translucent curtains that can be drawn to create a more intimate eating area amidst a third story view of the neighbouring Esplanade (Its quite good actually!). Coupled with a lush red sofa and red film partitions, it shouts oriental through and through.
Braised Homemade Egg Beancurd with Shredded Abalone - Whenever I see the word homemade, my expectations inch up a notch, for better or for worse. In this case, it was for the worse. The beancurd was smooth and silky but barely tasty. Texture wise, it tended more towards the Tau Pok side, which I personally don't really fancy. The accompanying gravy was thick and starchy but I couldn't hardly make out(both visual and taste) the dried scallops
Camphor Wood and Fragrant Tea Leaves Smoked Duck - I remember ordering this dish the last time I was here and was very much unimpressed by it. This time was no exception. The duck, though crispy, was way too dry and didn't have any tea taste whatsoever. The meat this time round was a little too overcooked as well, unlike the previous visit where the meat still retained a reddish hue.
Cod Fish Steamed with Superior Soy Sauce - The fish was fresh and sweet but a little too soft. I would have personally preferred the meat to be a little firmer. Another thing which I didn't really like was the fact that the fish came with its skin attached. I know that most fishes are served with their skin intact but this is probably the only place I know of that does it with cod fish.
Szechuan Fried Rice with Shrimp - A most excellent fried rice and definitely the highlight of the evening. Each grain of rice was homogeneously coated with egg and fried till lightly charred, giving rise to a nice and even Wok Hei taste. Thought slightly drier than your normal fried rice, it was a pleasure to eat and didn't come across as too difficult to swallow, especially with the generous serving of prawn cubes.
A still decent dinner emptied our pockets by about $46, after a 50% discount. Take away that discount and I definitely will not return, not for the quality of food. Will you? On a side note, service was acceptable, but could have been better and faster.
See all my pictures here
Rating given:
Purportedly one of the top few Chinese restaurants in Singapore that serves Cantonese food, Golden Peony has won numerous accolades and awards over the years for its exquisite food. Weirdly enough, not much has been written or said about it though. To find out if Golden Peony really stood up to its stash of awards, a few of us had dinner there on a late Thursday evening.
Located at Conrad Centennial Hotel just next to Millenia Walk, Golden Peony's interior was reminiscent of Hua Ting's. Everything from the layout to the chairs to the wooden beams were vaguely similar. It's not to say that the interior wasn't nice, just that I wasn't too impressed.
quintessential dish at every Chinese dinner - the ever versatile Peking Duck, where you wrap the skin up with crepes and have the restaurant cook the meat in anyway you want it. We chose to have it diced up, fried and served with lettuce. The result was a nicely stir fried lump of duck cubes with chestnut to give it that crunchy texture and served up on a lettuce. I did find the meat a little too salty, but the lettuce effectively balanced out the salt level. The only other place where I've had it done this way was at Min Jiang at One North, whose rendition was on par with Golden Peony's.
As for the skin, it was crispy and served up with egg crepes, which didn't come across as heavy as I had expected. Light and palatable would be most apt in describing it. Only two gripes though. First, the skin was a tad too oily, as evident by the shimmer on the skin. Second, each of us only got 3 slices of skin. The duck must have been ridiculously small, otherwise can someone tell me what happened to the rest of the skin?!
On a side note, this is the first time I'm seeing a Peking Duck going for a lower price than a Roast Duck. I honestly wonder why.
The general fault with tea marinated or smoked dishes is that more often than not, the taste of tea is lacking. This was the case with the Tea Marinated Pork Ribs. Granted, the ribs were quite a size, tender and savoury from the sweet sauce coated on it, but with no tea taste, it could jolly well pass off as braised pork ribs. Then again, I quite like it, just that the pieces of meat kept getting lodged in between the crevices of my teeth.
Homemade Beancurd with Asparagus & XO sauce - A less than outstanding dish, but decent nevertheless. The beancurd wasn't silky but came across as firm with a pleasant lingering aftertaste. The asparagus was just asparagus, albeit two miserly ones.
Salted Yolk Prawns seems to be increasingly common in restaurants nowadays. But not many restaurants are able to do it well. Such is the case with Golden Peony. The batter, though light and crispy, was a little too bland for my liking. The prawns were relatively fresh but weren't exactly very sweet. In fact, they had this fresh water taste which turned me off quite a bit.
At $20 a pop, Lobster Noodles screams plain rip off. For starters, the noodles didn't seem to be of a handmade nature, more of a machine manufactured product actually. They were a little springy, that's about it. The baby lobsters were fresh but weren't exactly meaty and trust me, you get more shell then meat. Not that they tasted very sweet as well.
Another rip off at $4 for a portion the size of your neighbourhood hawker centre 50 cents Tao Huay. To say the least, the Tao Huay wasn't as smooth as I had expected and the syrup didn't permeate thoroughly, rendering only some parts of the Tao Huay sweet. This definitely pales in comparison to the one I had at Si Chuan Dou Hua.
Sheer disappointment pretty much sums up my thoughts about Golden Peony. I had gone there expecting a fair bit in terms of food quality but left disappointed. Add the fact that the 6 of us chalked up a sizeable bill of almost $473 and you can't help but feel ripped off. Service was generally quite good though. Now heres some food for thought. How did Golden Peony manage to snag so many accolades with its merely above average food?
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Changi Village is probably one of the last remaining rustic, laid back places in Singapore and from the gateway to Pulau Ubin. So it is not surprising that many seafood places have sprouted up at this seaside enclave over the years, one of which is Ubin First Stop Restaurant where we opted to have lunch at one sunny weekday afternoon.
This seafood place is sandwiched between Changi Village hawker centre and the open air carpark and is reminiscent of an old kampung with its main structure elevated on low concrete stilts. The open air kitchen sits in a small seperate shack just outside the stairs leading to the dining area. Very nostalgic.
Soup of the day - This was a simple winter melon soup (if I remember correctly). A tad bland and a little oily. But easy on the palate.
Stir Fried Kang Kong - Nicely fried with a hint of wok hei. Not too limp from overcooking as well. Just watch out for the overdose of fiery chilli. But then again, it could be that none of us at the table had a high level of tolerance for spiciness.
Fried Fish - The fish was deep fried and drenched in a semi viscous salty gravy but still managed to maintain a mild crispiness on the exterior. Flesh was relatively fresh and firm and quite an enjoyable dish overall.
Thai Style Fried Chicken - Too much flour, too much thai sauce, rendering this dish rather unpleasant. The taste bud killer sauce also ensured that there was no chicken taste of whatsoever, just a glob of flour laden piece of unidentifiable meat.
Deep Fried Prawn Ball - Another flour obsessed dish - so fluffed up until I had problems locating the real prawn meat. Okay I am exaggerating, but 50% flour and 50% prawn just isn't funny. It was so gross that none of us wanted past our fair share of this dish, which meant leftovers.
The set lunch cost the 5 of us about $51, which isn't too expensive honestly. But factor in food quality and I'll probably take my chances at Macdonalds instead. Rice was free flow though, if that's any consolation.
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Nice light chinese food!
Nice of them to not have a minmum spending for their private rooms for a weekday dinner when most other hotels have. I didnt like the idea of having to hit a minimum amount even before I see what I like on the menu, so plus points for them!
It was a family dinner for 12pax and the round table was just about nice enough for us, although the table usually accommodates 10pax. Service was quick and efficient as well, so no complaints.
We decided on the $68 per pax set menu to make things easier for everyone:
Steamed crabmeat and minced shrimp dumpling in egg white souffle & Golden-fried duck with portugese sauce wrapped in crispy filo pastry - Presented very nicely on a 3-compartment long plate with a cute flower in between. The dumpling was excellent wiht the seafood fresh and crunchy, and paired very well with the egg white souflle which was really chinese chawamushi, only lighter. The duck was good with no gamey taste and not tough at all; the pastry was freshly and not a hint of staleness at all. My European side of the family liked this immensely.
Corn and chicken soup - We replaced the black chicken soup with this as was afraid that the european guests will not take to it. Very good chicken soup and lots of corn to keep the soup crunchy. Some found the consistency too gooey but I thought it was nto too bad.
Baked chicken roll with onion marinated with lemongrass sauce - Nice lightly marinated chicken roll (which was actually fresh chicken meat) on a bed of crunchy onions and a silver of veg. The onions could have been sauteed more as not many people like onions the crunchy. Again, the meat tasted like fresh chicken instead of frozen meat.
Sauteed cubes of sea perch with pine nuts and vegetables served in a golden nest - This tasted alot like cod for some reason. The veg are corn and cubes of bell peppers which provided some colour, but a pity that the pine nuts were over-roased which made them quite bitter. The nest of vermicilli was good too, though I felt it can be more crispy.
Steamed mian xian noodle with river king prawn in chinese wine broth - super duper light 'main course' for a chinese dinner which managed to be flavourful and satisfying at the same time. The broth did taste of the wine and the prawn was huge.
Red date paste in crispy filo pastry served with pineapple sauce - The pastry was okay, but I left the paste alone as am not a big fan of dates and the smell and taste was quite overwhelmimg for me.
Was a good experience as I didnt have very high hopes when I went. But it scored quite well on every aspect! Maybe I'll try the dim sum the next time :D
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Don't know why the Vivo City and Raffles City outlets have not been listed but that's why I am writing this under the Orchard Central outlet.
5 girls and 1 guy on a 5pm weekday means the place was not too packed for our big group. We were greedy and ordered 5 tarts ($6.50 per tart) to share with drinks of course:
Strawberry mont blanc - The mont blanc could have been more, although the taste blended very well with the berries. The taste of the nut did not come through as being very obvious admist all the cream.
Blueberry - Topped off with real blueberries and blueberry jelly cubes. The jelly were a nice touch and something different to the otherwise boring tart.
Chocolate banana - Anything chocolate must be more popular than the rest of the flavours. The banana slices were thankfully not too mushy and the chocolate actually provided a but more flavour than the rest of our choices. A good match I think!
Mango - A little too stingy with the mango cubes and slices.
Mixed fruit - mixed fruit is well, mixed fruit. Some mango, kiwi, banana, strawberry, blueberry.
It did feel like it was not too sinful a dessert break, maybe becasue of the very light Japanese cream. But after a while, they all started to taste the same except for the chocolate banana. I liked the tart base too, very fresh and light.
My earl grey was okay, but they dont serve honey, only sugar syrup. And I think having wrong orders is really not forgivable when we were the 2nd occupied table. But for girls, this is an outlet to feel like having your cake and eating it too. Literally.
With drinks, the total bill for 5 tarts and drinks came up to $78 which I didnt expect. But I guess it could have been alot more expenseive than say canele.
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It was dinner at Miyabi again. We didn't have a reservation but as they had just opened for business, we managed to snag a table in the main dining hall without much difficulty. The interior was quite simply done up with 2 side stalls for teppanyaki and the rest of the area for ala carte dining. Nothing too spectacular.
Chawamushi - The chawamushi was not very smooth, leaning towards a firm custard like texture instead. Flavour wise, the egg taste was apparent but did seem a little bland overall. Still decent though.
Sushi & Tempura Combo - I can't deny the aesthetic attractiveness of the sushi but found the rice to be rather loose and lacking in vinegar. The relative freshness of the raw seafood made it more bearable though but probably not something I would order again.
The tempura batter was a little too frilly for my liking but on the upside, it wasn't overbearingly thick and the prawns were sizeable. Decent enough.
Apparently there was a promotion going on for the sirloin, which could be done either teppanyaki style or grilled with teriyaki. We chose the former and opted for it to be done medium. Although the meat came a little overcooked, it was still tender and juicy, which was rather surprising. That said, it wasn't sweet and I could only make out the strong taste of the garlic. Rather disappointing.
Food quality was average but definitely better than the likes of Sake Sushi. However, pricing is slightly steeper as well, at about $120 for the 3 of us. I definitely won't be back in a hurry.
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Rating given:
Came here for a leisure weekday lunch and it was not packed at all, with a few tables looking like business lunches and corporate partners instead of your usual family crowd. Thus place was nice and quiet, and probably felt more upmarket than its counterparts at Central and Wheelock.
The place can be quite hard to find for 1st timers: its not visible from the main courtyard. You'll have to access it by climbing up a fleet of stairs near Insomnia, right smack in the middle of Chijmes.
Gyoza - 6 compact pieces of the dumplings decorated with a veg on top, all on a hot plate. Very nicely grilled and served very hot, although I though the gyozas could have a but more bite than just all meat. The slightly tart sauce that came with it perked up the dish though.
Salmon roll - Cute presentation of the rolls, and salmon was very fresh although nothing excellent. Quite a mouthful for me though, but some people call it value for money.
Deep fried squid - this is on their seasonal menu, although I couldnt figure out why squid was seasonal. Small portion of bite-sized squid (note: not the rings) nicely batetred and deep-fried. A very morish snack to accompany the meal.
Hotpot rice set (seafood) - My weakness for seafood made me order this. The set came with chawamushi, miso soup, pickles, salmon sashimi, fruits, and green tea ice cream. The chawamushi was studded with ednamame peas and had ginko nuts and chicken in it. Quite heavy for me compared to normal steam egg. I had expected the hot pot to give the rice some fragrance but it did not, disappointingly. There seem to be also not much taste, except for the soya sauce that was mixed into the rice.
The seafood had half a prawn, fish roe, fish, scallops, and salmon. It looks like a luxurious combi but somehow I felt the seafood and the rice didnt gel together and tasted like they were separate components instead. The scallops and salmon was not cooked although the idea was for them to cook themselves within the heat of the pot; and I had to send it back to get them to grill it again. I can understand if salmon was not cooked thoroughly, but scallops???
Green tea ice cream - This was part of the set and was the highlight of the lunch for me. Served very chilled in a chilled porcelain bowl, it was one of the better ones I've tried so far. Smooth with just the right amount of 'grainy' feel to taste home-made and very macha than commercial green tea.
Green tea - Probably made from the same green tea leaves or mix, but I had to highlight that they apparently make their own blend for the tea, and it did taste so.
Service was not too bad, perhaps given that there were plenty of staff to handle the half occupied place. Requests for tea refill, side plates were answered quite quickly.
I actually didnt know how much was the bill as it was a treat, the amount spent is an estimate based on what I remember from the menu. The quality I think can still be improved, but because I like the place, I'll return to try their other stuff.
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Not a buffet I would pay to return to
My first visit to MBS and I was quite excited to try what they are capable of in terms of food. It was a casual business lunch so buffet at Rise sounded like the best option to suit everyone's tastes.
Rise is located right smack in the middle of the high-ceiling Marina Bay Sands hotel lobby and very open-concept, so much so that you may walk right past it thinking it was the hotel lounge. Seatings are elevated and plenty of lush to also provide a sense of privacy from the lobby traffic. Remember to ask the cab to stop at the hotel lobby if applicable as it can be a fair walk if they drop you off at the Casino lobby instead.
Staff was eager to please although a bit clueless. We arrived early at 11:45am and asked if the buffet is ready. Staff said oh the buffet starts at 11:30am, to which we asked if it means we can go get the food already. He then said he needed to re-confirm the timing and come back to us. Huh??
The set up and variety looked promising, but unfortunately, the key word was 'looked'.
Soup & Bread - 3 varieties: tomato, mushroom, beef. I only tried the mushroom and found it quite good; I could taste actual chunks of mushrooms in it but after a few spoonfuls it started to be a little salty.
Cheese - A suprisingly better than expected selection of cheese, something I dont see alot at buffet lunches. The few I tried tasted too strong for me but taste is subjective of course.
Starters - normal items like salad leaves, potato mayo, sausage and potato salad etc.
Seafood - 4 varities: prawns, crabs, scallops, mussels (which I didnt try). The small-medium prawns were not chilled enough although it was buried under ice, and came without the heads. It did not have that sweet crunch of really fresh prawns either and was really just okay. The crabs had the same problem. I was quite disappointed as I had expected more out of MBS quality. The only plus point is when a staff saw me struggling with the crab claw, he offered to take it away to crack it for me.
Sashimi - I only tried the salmon but it too was served not chilled enough. I wonder if its the ice they are using????
Hot food - Nothing wow thus I didnt try alot. It was more common fare like dim sum, noodles cooked to order, pasta, sweet sour chicken, mushrooms, kailan etc.
Desserts - A big selection and I tried a few but was not wowed. Fruit tarts, chocolate cakes and mousses, bread butter pudding, biscotti, madelines, and mango pomelo dessert. Plenty of fruits though.
Coffee and tea is included in the buffet and you can take your pick of earl grey, english breakfast etc. We asked if only normal coffee is included or can we have cuppucino lattes etc; and they needed to check again. Turned out to be only normal coffee, FYI.
Ambience is nice and airy with a very alfresco feel, and although it is situated in the hotel lobby, it wasn't too noisy. You can spot business guys in suits or families on a weekday leisure post-casino meal.
I had expected better from MBS actually. I do agree that variety is good but sometimes I prefer quality more than quantity. And none of the items stood out. The host paid for all of us which was good, as this is one buffet I will not pay to return to. For the same price, there are definitely better buffet options out there.
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Have heard about the long queue at the outlet at Central so was quite curious to try and new outlet at Cuppage. Having the 1-4-1 coupon from 8Days helped of course.
They don't take reservations so had to leave my name at 7pm on a weekday evening for an indoor seating. Small seating as well so the place fills up quite quickly.
Tonkusen Toroniku ($16.80) - this came with 3 choices of soup base: shio (salt), miso, or spicy. I picked the shio after reading up prior to my visit and found it very nicely balanced, with just the right amount of fragrant but not overbearing milky porky broth. Didnt taste like there was an overkill of salt as well.
The ramen itself was a bit thinner than most but had the right amount of spring in it and thankfully not overcooked.
The supposedly highlight of the dish was the pork cheeks which came on a side plate, as with all the garnishes. Clever of them. It was the first time I had pork cheeks and my first piece tasted wonderfully tender and rich. But the salt quantum and fatty bits took a toll on me a few pieces later, with me carefully scrapping off the fats for the last few and ultimately not finishing it.
I had a taste of the spicy base also, which I thought was quite good as it had the fragrance of the bean paste. Nice.
Despite the pork cheeks being overly salty, I will still pick this over Ippudo in general. Better soup and better ramen :D
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