Ice Cream Kingdom is one of the new Ice Cream places in Singapore. The owner of the 8 month old Ice Cream Parlor at Holland Grove, is Stella, who quit her HR job in exchange for the impressive title CICO: Chief Ice-Cream Officer.
With so many ice cream places in Singapore, it can be quite a thwarting experience trying to decide on a place to satisfy the ice cream craving. I like Ice Cream Kingdom (ICK) and I am going to tell you why.
Unlike the other ice cream parlours in Singapore, it’s an one-woman-show at Ice Cream Kingdom. From making the ice cream to serving them – everything is done by Stella. Having ice cream in ICK, it makes you feel right at home.
Ice Cream Kingdom has 15 ice cream flavors – some are essentials like vanilla, chocolate and cookie & cream, while there are other unique flavors like kaya, green tea brown rice, and honey wheat crunch.
We were like kids in an ice cream shop, there’s so many flavors and we wanted to try all of them! For ‘research purposes’, we had 8 different scoops: Nutella Nutella, Vanilla Bean, Sticky Chewy Chocolate, Earl of Grey, Honey Wheat Crunch, Green Tea Brown Rice, Toasty Kaya, and Rasping for Raspberry.
Vanilla > Chocolate
When it comes to ice cream, Vanilla ice cream always win hands down – especially so when there’s speckle of vanilla beans in it. But that’s not to say that the Sticky Chewy Chocolate isn’t good. Before this visit, a dear friend brought me the chocolate flavor from Ice Cream Kingdom (ICK) and I had a whole pint of it for dinner.
Besides Vanilla bean, another of my all time favorite is definitely Nutella! I’m not sure about you, but I like nutella very very much. Since I’m not a tea lover, the Earl of Grey didn’t really appealed to me, but most of the rest raved about it as one of the better earl grey ice cream.
The Green Tea Brown Rice sounded a little too healthy for my liking; there was green tea, and there was brown rice – there you go – Green Tea Brown Rice ice cream! I know it’s not my best description – try it for yourself if you are curious. Among the different options, Toasty Kaya caught our attention with the catchy name and familiar taste, while the playful Rasping for Raspberry was sweet but not overly sweet, sour and not too much so, with an intense raspberry tinge.
Have you ever fantasized about having ice cream for breakfast? With the Honey Wheat Crunch, I think your little fetish can actually come true. Tasting it for the first time, it’s like having tiny bits of wheat cereal – in an ice cream. Ho ho, lets have ice cream for breakfast!
I did not exercise, but I only had a taste of everything instead of having eight scoops.
Rainy days are the perfect weather for having ice cream. But the same goes for a hot day too. There’s nothing more gratifying than to have a cold melting ice cream under the scorching sun. I’d also go for warm fluffy waffles, topped with a single scoop of cold vanilla ice cream and drizzled with hot chocolate.
I like the idea of ice cream: be it on a cone or in a cup, the sight of the melting ice cream always proved to be irresistible, I mean, who doesn’t like ice cream? It’s like the best creation (other than nutella) in this world!
Special for ladyironchef readers:
Mention that you are a reader of ladyironchef to Stella, get an additional scoop of ice cream when you ordered the Waffle with Single Scoop OR 1-for-1 deal on scoops. Promotion is valid for one month till 24th April 2010.
For directions please click here, and you can give a call to ICK before going down. What are you waiting for? Drop by Ice Cream Kingdom and say hi to Stella for me!
Long story short, if you like my review please do come by ladyironchef . . . for the delicious in you
Finally had the chance to try this after walking past it countless times. Always felt it looked like an upmarket Jap place with its dark deco tones and soft lightings, and this was a good although more pricey option than Sushi Tei if you don't feel like joining the harrowing queue there.
Availability of booth seats provided a relief from the usual noisy crowd for the 4 of us, and we orderded sufficiently adequate:
Ebi Avocado Maki ($10.80) - Rather big portions but I cant quite taste the avocado. The rice was quite loosely packed and fell all over the place; prawns was also abit soggy.
Tako Fry ($8.80) - Jap calamari. Too oily for my liking and the batter was more like fish&chips-style batter. Whatever freshness of the tako was overpowered by the too-heavy batter.
Gyu Asparagus Maki ($3.80) - Don't know why they called it Maki when its not. The picture in the menu is misleading. The skewer of 4 pieces of asparagus wrapped with beef came in puny portions. Overdose of salt and black pepper killed the dish.
Cha Soba ($8.80) - refreshingly light, especially after the tako fry. Its a standard dish but thumbs up for the noodles that came nicely chilled.
The things I didnt try: Nabeyaki Udon ($14.80), Tori Nanban Soba ($12.80), Beef Inaniwa Udon ($16.80).
Service was quite efficient and food was served promptly. Tea was topped up regularly as well. The prices are abit high I thought, and I wouldnt have minded it so much if the quality of food was better. But I'll leave it up to you to decide for yourselves~
Oh, and they serve this complimentary starter which I find strangely addictive. Its just cucumber and carrot sticks with raw cabbage pieces, but comes with a savory bean dip that provides a healthy tasty crunch.
I thought I should inform this very small issue that my friend and his family of 6 in total went for a Happy Birthday Champagne Brunch on 14 Mar 2010 and 3 came down with food poisoning thereafter.
Why 3 you ask? Because the 3 (my friend and his parents) went to get and ate some oysters first, and then when the other 3 family members went over to the same counter, they couldnt see the oysters anymore. The staff told them that the oysters were not fresh and had kept them.
Opps. Too late.
They wrote in to the Director of F&B and they offered to refund the monies for 3pax. But were also defensive and kept emphasizing that the oysters are checked before serving etc etc. So how did the un-fresh oysters reach the buffet counter? Hmmmm...
I personally tried the brunch in 2009 and it was quite an enjoyable experience. Not sure what happened but I hope something has been done about it. After all, I'm sure food poisoning is not something that a Four Seasons would want to be associated with. I thought their service recovery will be better than this too.
And this time they only had (unfresh) oysters and prawns at the cold seafood counter.. quite pathetic given that they are charging $148 per adult. For the same price, Ritz is way better.
Dont go to Thai Express often but when I do, I have the Mee Sua Kaeng Chued Gai ($9.90) which is 'Thai longevity noodles in double-boiled chicken broth".
There's something about chicken broth and noodles which is very comforting to me, especially when I am terribly hungry and cant eat anything tomyam-ish because of gastric. The noodles are more like the Malaysian 'dou qian' made of bean flour which makes them not soggy even after they've been cooked and soaked in the broth for some time. The broth is tasty but light; and the bowl is topped with mushrooms, some greens, and chicken pieces. My only grouse is that the chicken was not marinated and needed chilli to lift it up.
Yam Mamuang ($6.50) - Mango Salad. Adequately small portion for a starter and I liked the fact that the dressing is not too tart as compared to other places. A bit too heavy on the small onions for me though.
Service was abit haphazard, with staff rushing to and fro, some over eager while others were nonchalantly blur. Expect queues on Fridays and Saturdays too. It more a eat -and-go place so no ambience to speak of.
Ventured here again afer dropping by on the 3rd day of CNY only to see that its not opened. At 6pm on a Saturday evening, the outdoor seats were all reserved, so we settled for the indoor. The seats by the sides were probably a better choice as the middle seat we got was right smack in front of the cake counter and doorway to the washroom.
Rotisserie chicken - this came in the form of 2 chicken drumsticks perched on top on a pool of mashed potatos and something else I cant' remember. The chicken looked quite good at first but we later realised the it was not probably not season enough as once we took off the skin, the meat itself was quite tasteless. The potatos were not wow either. Plus the order came about 10mins after they took our order, which leads me to conclude the chicken was pre-cooked. And so it was even more strange that the inner bits of the chicken was still red.
Squid salad - small squid rings that came tossed with a bunch of rocket leaves and seasoned with a lemony-dressing, and accompanied by silvers of cooked capsicums. The squid felt a tad too 'soft', and while the dressing was a nice change from your usual creamy fare, I would have preferred the capsicums to not be so cooked and retained more crunch.
I have to admit the ambience is really quite nice, sort of like a semi private lush dining. I walked from Tanglin Mall to get there and it was a good 15mins walk, but still better to have your own transport, evident in how we were stuck when leaving because it was raining. The staff offered to call for a taxi for us which I thought was a nice touch even though we didnt take up the offer.
The rest of the menu looks interesting enough for me to be back; maybe I just ordered the wrong things??
It was a mad rush trying to find a nice restaurant back in December for Christmas Eve dinner since most places were already packed. Rather than having traditional Christmas food like turkey, log-cake and ham, we decided to go for some exotic Vietnamese food instead.
Located at Orchard Central’s Sky Garden, NUOC is a relatively new Vietnamese restaurant in the Singapore food scene. It’s positioned as a semi-fine dining Vietnamese restaurant, and naturally prices are slightly steeper.
I always have problems when it comes to ordering. It was a hard decision trying to choose from the deep-fried and the Fresh Vietnamese Spring roll ($18 for 4 rolls), so we went for the easy way out and ordered both.
Fresh prawns, sliced pork, lettuce, Vietnamese herbs & vermicelli rolled with traditional Vietnamese rice paper. That’s what inside the spring roll. Or rather, that’s what the menu says. And there’s mint inside too. The mint was somewhat like the final touch to enhance the freshness of the rolls. Crisp, and sharp, every bite was delightful – unless you don’t like mint.
Which is better? The Fresh Spring roll or the Deep-fried Vietnamese Spring Roll ($12 for 8 pieces)? I’m a sucker for deep-fried food. As much as I know that deep-fried food is unhealthy, but it always makes the food taste so much better.
We also ordered the Egg plant ($12) and Stir-fried lemon grass and ginger chicken ($16). The former was mashy, and it kinds of resembled fish rather than egg plant, while the latter was mediocre.
When it comes to soup, I only like hot soup. Somehow I never like cold soup, I mean, soup should always be hot, otherwise it’s not soup right? At least, that’s my definition of soup. Even when it’s hot soup, I only like home-cooked Chinese soup. Which is why, you seldom see me ordering soup in restaurants. I’m not against soup, but I’d rather spend the money having another appetizer, or even better – an extra dessert. The intriguing name of Fresh Prawn in young coconut ($20 for 6 pieces) caught our attention, and the soup base was probably prepared for hours; it was rich, and intense and sweet.
* * *
NUOC is a very new restaurant, and they are still sorting out all the teething problems. When we went in December, the signature Vietnamese Pho (I remembered it as fur) was not even offered on the menu, I mean how can a Vietnamese restaurant not serve Pho right? Hopefully they should be serving Pho by now. Anyway, the view is gorgeous, if you want Vietnamese food in a nice ambience and do not mind paying more, NUOC might just be the place.
Long story short, if you like my review please do come by ladyironchef . . . for the delicious in you
Had lunch at The Dining Room at Raffles Town Club, which shares the same name as a Chinese restaurant in the upclass Crockford Towers at Resort World Sentosa, though the former has been in existence long before RWS made its foray Singapore. On a side note, Sheraton Towers Hotel has a restaurant named The Dining Room as well. Is the name generic or what?
Hidden in one corner of the club (the whole clubhouse is quite a maze actually), The Dining Room features a modernly styled interior with touches of classic European grandeur, giving rise to an understated luxurious yet cozy setting.
Lobster Risotto - Though this came as an appetiser (very small portions), the risotto was al dente, with a nice overall smooth and creamy feel to it. I could make out a whiff of truffle oil as well. Lobster portions were minimal of course and I thought that there was a mild overdose of salt. But other than that, it was a good starter.
Pan Fried Goose Liver - Nicely pan fried with little charred bits, the foie gras was smooth but not exactly what I would term as silky. And check out the copious amounts of oil in this tiny piece of liver. I'm not sure the 2 sticks of asparagus did any good in making this dish "healthier" so to speak.
Prime Rib of Beef - Deviating a little from my request, my prime rib was done medium well instead of medium rare and didn't carry much natural sweetness. On the upside, it was nicely grilled with a dash of salt for seasoning. Overall still quite decent.
Tiramisu - I certainly wasn't expecting a lychee in my tiramisu but I'm not complaining as I have a certain penchant for lychees, rambutans and the likes. I like the generous serving of mascarpone cheese but that's just about it. The sponge was a little hard but not dry, reminding me more of moist brownie, which isn't too bad if you can get past the psychological expectations part. If you like coffee, you will definitely appreciate the apparent coffee taste.
We had a leisurely and filling lunch in the comfort of an empty restaurant. Food in general hovered around the average to slightly above average level, which didn't quite justify the price tag ($173 for 4 pax) in my humble opinion. Still, brownie points for excellent service and professionalism. And it beats both the Japanese and Chinese restaurant at the club.
It was meant to be a Chinese New Year dim sum gathering with a couple of my makan kakis at Taste Paradise Ion. Unfortunately, only the ala carte menu was available because it was still within the CNY period. Which was fine with me, considering that I had a great meal at Taste Paradise Mosque Street 2 years back.
It must be posh interior fatigue that I was suffering from because the dim lighted luxurious interior with huge paintings of past Chinese emperors certainly didn't impress me much. But I must say it's definitely nicer than alot of the Chinese restaurants out there.
Crispy Silver Bait - We got off to a great start with the crispy silver bait, as recommended by our waitress. The silver fish was crisp and sweet with a touch of sour. Portion size was quite small so get more to share if you have a big group.
XO Carrot Cake - What used to wow me back then turned out to be sheer disappointment this time round. It was overly soft and I couldn't make out any savoury aftertaste. The only thing I could make out was the spice from the chilli, if you consider that a taste. I reckon your local hawker centre could do a much better job at a less than half the price for the same portion size.
Roasted Pork - This dish of roasted pork takes edibility to a new low and I'm not kidding. Each tiny cube was literally one layer skin, one layer lean meat and two layers of fats. Sure, the skin was crisp but the pork taste was just too overwhelming (they probably didn't blanch it long enough) and they tried to mask it by seasoning it with more salt. Someone commented it was akin to literally biting into a raw pig and I can't help but agree. Gross.
Peking Duck - At least the peking duck didn't suffer the same fate as the roast pork. It was decently crisp but overall could have been better. The crepes were a little too thick and could have done with less sweet sauce. Oh and the crackers that came alongside were just plain bland. We opted to have the meat fried with rice and it was average at best. Rather tasteless and a tad too moist with an evident fowl smell. Poor duck.
Yuan Yang Prawn Ball - Finally a dish that presented a glimmer of hope - the yuan yang prawn ball, comprising of one wasabi prawn and one laksa prawn, served up in a martini glass. While both were big and crunchy, I personally favoured the wasabi prawn over the latter as the laksa seasoning did seem a little bland and lacklustre as compared to the more provocative wasabi.
Garoupa in Two Ways - This was apparently the special for the day and it honestly didn't look or taste as great as what our waitress had described to us. Presentation wise, it looked haphazard at best with the steamed garoupa and asparagus occupying the centre and flanked by fried pieces of garoupa. Generally speaking, the fish meat was fresh but sticky (too much corn flour!) and not very sweet. I couldn't quite make out the delicateness of the fish.
Tofu with Crab Roe - Another bordering on average dish. I appreciated the generous serving of crab meat shreds in the gravy but could have done with a little more flavour. ie. crab taste. Same goes for the tofu as well, which was barely in existence. One interesting/weird thing about the gravy was that it had a sourish overtone that didn't sit too well with either of us.
The bill dealt a $360 blow to the 7 of us. Food quality was average but service was decent. I cannot fathom how an excellent dinner at Taste Paradise Mosque Street could culminate in such a poor showing at the Ion outlet. Looks like I'll be placing my trust elsewhere in future.
I came here almost 4 years ago and never revisited as I actually feel it is a bit pricey for crepes and at that time what I tasted was not spectacular, so the only reason I walked in on a Monday night was because I saw that they are having a 1-for-1 savoury crepes (promo is valid until end Mar from Monday to Thursday).
Tables alongside the fountain are taken up quite quickly, so we were assigned a 2-seater right beside the escalator. Tables are packed quite tightly perhaps to maximise the space, so good for evesdropping. Service was abit haphazard, with blur-ish staff looking spaced out sometimes.
Peking Duck (whole wheat crepe) - although I couldnt understand what 'sambal olek' sauce was and why lychees appeared in the description, it acutally turned out nice! The crepes were packed quite firmly with the meat and the sauce was very distinctively Peking duck without being too salty. My only fault with it was the fatty duck skin in the mix of onions; which I ate without knowing that it was there, then saw my friend painstakingly remove them from her plate.
Seafood (sun dried tomato crepe) - the menu says its spicy youghurt sauce but whatever I tasted was not really spicy but more of a tinge of spice to dress up the sauce itself. Actually I could only taste the prawns and the oranges in the crepes but overall taste was good too.
Each crepe came with a side of salad in a dressing which reminded me of orange vinegrette. Not too bad.
I'll come again for the offer but not without as I still think it is pricey. Quality of the crepes have improved from what I remember, so good for them.
Everything here seems to be done with macha, drinks, shakes, lattes, ice creams, etc. A tad quiet on a Monday night and maybe that's why the air conditioning seemed to be a little too strong for me.
Hot macha latte - friend ordered the unsweetened version for me but maybe it was the wrong choice. It was terribly bitter and consistency was so thick it didnt taste like a 'latte' at all. I added some hot milk to dilute it but didnt turn out too different. Had to add a pack of sugar to make it bearable in the end. Lesson learnt - take the sweetened version.
Macha black saseme ice cream - ordering 2 scoops instead of 1 by 1 was a mistake, even though it was cheaper comparatively. The macha ice cream dissolved into a green puddle too quickly under the black saseme, the black saseme overpowered whatever macha taste I could find. I'm sure they taste great separately.
The place is semi-self service: write your orders on an order chit on the table, bring it to the counter, pay, and wait for your food / drinks. Prices are very reasonable for $6 per person too. For macha lovers~
Most seats are low-back cushy seats but the layout of the seats don't really offer any privacy for chit chatting, unless you're lucky enough to snag 1 of their 2 booth seats, one of which unfortuantely was taken up by ONE lady during my visit. Sigh.
We got hit by a flying piece of porcelain when one of the staff broke something near the kitchen but maybe that's just bad timing for us.
1=SGD 0.0587
Ice Cream Kingdom is one of the new Ice Cream places in Singapore. The owner of the 8 month old Ice Cream Parlor at Holland Grove, is Stella, who quit her HR job in exchange for the impressive title CICO: Chief Ice-Cream Officer.
With so many ice cream places in Singapore, it can be quite a thwarting experience trying to decide on a place to satisfy the ice cream craving. I like Ice Cream Kingdom (ICK) and I am going to tell you why.
Unlike the other ice cream parlours in Singapore, it’s an one-woman-show at Ice Cream Kingdom. From making the ice cream to serving them – everything is done by Stella. Having ice cream in ICK, it makes you feel right at home.
Ice Cream Kingdom has 15 ice cream flavors – some are essentials like vanilla, chocolate and cookie & cream, while there are other unique flavors like kaya, green tea brown rice, and honey wheat crunch.
We were like kids in an ice cream shop, there’s so many flavors and we wanted to try all of them! For ‘research purposes’, we had 8 different scoops: Nutella Nutella, Vanilla Bean, Sticky Chewy Chocolate, Earl of Grey, Honey Wheat Crunch, Green Tea Brown Rice, Toasty Kaya, and Rasping for Raspberry.
Vanilla > Chocolate
When it comes to ice cream, Vanilla ice cream always win hands down – especially so when there’s speckle of vanilla beans in it. But that’s not to say that the Sticky Chewy Chocolate isn’t good. Before this visit, a dear friend brought me the chocolate flavor from Ice Cream Kingdom (ICK) and I had a whole pint of it for dinner.
Besides Vanilla bean, another of my all time favorite is definitely Nutella! I’m not sure about you, but I like nutella very very much. Since I’m not a tea lover, the Earl of Grey didn’t really appealed to me, but most of the rest raved about it as one of the better earl grey ice cream.
The Green Tea Brown Rice sounded a little too healthy for my liking; there was green tea, and there was brown rice – there you go – Green Tea Brown Rice ice cream! I know it’s not my best description – try it for yourself if you are curious. Among the different options, Toasty Kaya caught our attention with the catchy name and familiar taste, while the playful Rasping for Raspberry was sweet but not overly sweet, sour and not too much so, with an intense raspberry tinge.
Have you ever fantasized about having ice cream for breakfast? With the Honey Wheat Crunch, I think your little fetish can actually come true. Tasting it for the first time, it’s like having tiny bits of wheat cereal – in an ice cream. Ho ho, lets have ice cream for breakfast!
I did not exercise, but I only had a taste of everything instead of having eight scoops.
Rainy days are the perfect weather for having ice cream. But the same goes for a hot day too. There’s nothing more gratifying than to have a cold melting ice cream under the scorching sun. I’d also go for warm fluffy waffles, topped with a single scoop of cold vanilla ice cream and drizzled with hot chocolate.
I like the idea of ice cream: be it on a cone or in a cup, the sight of the melting ice cream always proved to be irresistible, I mean, who doesn’t like ice cream? It’s like the best creation (other than nutella) in this world!
Special for ladyironchef readers:
Mention that you are a reader of ladyironchef to Stella, get an additional scoop of ice cream when you ordered the Waffle with Single Scoop OR 1-for-1 deal on scoops. Promotion is valid for one month till 24th April 2010.
For directions please click here, and you can give a call to ICK before going down. What are you waiting for? Drop by Ice Cream Kingdom and say hi to Stella for me!
Long story short, if you like my review please do come by ladyironchef . . . for the delicious in you
Rating given:
A tad expensive; quality needs to be improved
Finally had the chance to try this after walking past it countless times. Always felt it looked like an upmarket Jap place with its dark deco tones and soft lightings, and this was a good although more pricey option than Sushi Tei if you don't feel like joining the harrowing queue there.
Availability of booth seats provided a relief from the usual noisy crowd for the 4 of us, and we orderded sufficiently adequate:
Ebi Avocado Maki ($10.80) - Rather big portions but I cant quite taste the avocado. The rice was quite loosely packed and fell all over the place; prawns was also abit soggy.
Tako Fry ($8.80) - Jap calamari. Too oily for my liking and the batter was more like fish&chips-style batter. Whatever freshness of the tako was overpowered by the too-heavy batter.
Gyu Asparagus Maki ($3.80) - Don't know why they called it Maki when its not. The picture in the menu is misleading. The skewer of 4 pieces of asparagus wrapped with beef came in puny portions. Overdose of salt and black pepper killed the dish.
Cha Soba ($8.80) - refreshingly light, especially after the tako fry. Its a standard dish but thumbs up for the noodles that came nicely chilled.
The things I didnt try: Nabeyaki Udon ($14.80), Tori Nanban Soba ($12.80), Beef Inaniwa Udon ($16.80).
Service was quite efficient and food was served promptly. Tea was topped up regularly as well. The prices are abit high I thought, and I wouldnt have minded it so much if the quality of food was better. But I'll leave it up to you to decide for yourselves~
Oh, and they serve this complimentary starter which I find strangely addictive. Its just cucumber and carrot sticks with raw cabbage pieces, but comes with a savory bean dip that provides a healthy tasty crunch.
Rating given:
Small issue but....
I thought I should inform this very small issue that my friend and his family of 6 in total went for a Happy Birthday Champagne Brunch on 14 Mar 2010 and 3 came down with food poisoning thereafter.
Why 3 you ask? Because the 3 (my friend and his parents) went to get and ate some oysters first, and then when the other 3 family members went over to the same counter, they couldnt see the oysters anymore. The staff told them that the oysters were not fresh and had kept them.
Opps. Too late.
They wrote in to the Director of F&B and they offered to refund the monies for 3pax. But were also defensive and kept emphasizing that the oysters are checked before serving etc etc. So how did the un-fresh oysters reach the buffet counter? Hmmmm...
I personally tried the brunch in 2009 and it was quite an enjoyable experience. Not sure what happened but I hope something has been done about it. After all, I'm sure food poisoning is not something that a Four Seasons would want to be associated with. I thought their service recovery will be better than this too.
And this time they only had (unfresh) oysters and prawns at the cold seafood counter.. quite pathetic given that they are charging $148 per adult. For the same price, Ritz is way better.
Rating given:
Nice Mee Sua~
Dont go to Thai Express often but when I do, I have the Mee Sua Kaeng Chued Gai ($9.90) which is 'Thai longevity noodles in double-boiled chicken broth".
There's something about chicken broth and noodles which is very comforting to me, especially when I am terribly hungry and cant eat anything tomyam-ish because of gastric. The noodles are more like the Malaysian 'dou qian' made of bean flour which makes them not soggy even after they've been cooked and soaked in the broth for some time. The broth is tasty but light; and the bowl is topped with mushrooms, some greens, and chicken pieces. My only grouse is that the chicken was not marinated and needed chilli to lift it up.
Yam Mamuang ($6.50) - Mango Salad. Adequately small portion for a starter and I liked the fact that the dressing is not too tart as compared to other places. A bit too heavy on the small onions for me though.
Service was abit haphazard, with staff rushing to and fro, some over eager while others were nonchalantly blur. Expect queues on Fridays and Saturdays too. It more a eat -and-go place so no ambience to speak of.
Rating given:
Not as wow as expected...
Ventured here again afer dropping by on the 3rd day of CNY only to see that its not opened. At 6pm on a Saturday evening, the outdoor seats were all reserved, so we settled for the indoor. The seats by the sides were probably a better choice as the middle seat we got was right smack in front of the cake counter and doorway to the washroom.
Rotisserie chicken - this came in the form of 2 chicken drumsticks perched on top on a pool of mashed potatos and something else I cant' remember. The chicken looked quite good at first but we later realised the it was not probably not season enough as once we took off the skin, the meat itself was quite tasteless. The potatos were not wow either. Plus the order came about 10mins after they took our order, which leads me to conclude the chicken was pre-cooked. And so it was even more strange that the inner bits of the chicken was still red.
Squid salad - small squid rings that came tossed with a bunch of rocket leaves and seasoned with a lemony-dressing, and accompanied by silvers of cooked capsicums. The squid felt a tad too 'soft', and while the dressing was a nice change from your usual creamy fare, I would have preferred the capsicums to not be so cooked and retained more crunch.
I have to admit the ambience is really quite nice, sort of like a semi private lush dining. I walked from Tanglin Mall to get there and it was a good 15mins walk, but still better to have your own transport, evident in how we were stuck when leaving because it was raining. The staff offered to call for a taxi for us which I thought was a nice touch even though we didnt take up the offer.
The rest of the menu looks interesting enough for me to be back; maybe I just ordered the wrong things??
Rating given:
It was a mad rush trying to find a nice restaurant back in December for Christmas Eve dinner since most places were already packed. Rather than having traditional Christmas food like turkey, log-cake and ham, we decided to go for some exotic Vietnamese food instead.
Located at Orchard Central’s Sky Garden, NUOC is a relatively new Vietnamese restaurant in the Singapore food scene. It’s positioned as a semi-fine dining Vietnamese restaurant, and naturally prices are slightly steeper.
I always have problems when it comes to ordering. It was a hard decision trying to choose from the deep-fried and the Fresh Vietnamese Spring roll ($18 for 4 rolls), so we went for the easy way out and ordered both.
Fresh prawns, sliced pork, lettuce, Vietnamese herbs & vermicelli rolled with traditional Vietnamese rice paper. That’s what inside the spring roll. Or rather, that’s what the menu says. And there’s mint inside too. The mint was somewhat like the final touch to enhance the freshness of the rolls. Crisp, and sharp, every bite was delightful – unless you don’t like mint.
Which is better? The Fresh Spring roll or the Deep-fried Vietnamese Spring Roll ($12 for 8 pieces)? I’m a sucker for deep-fried food. As much as I know that deep-fried food is unhealthy, but it always makes the food taste so much better.
We also ordered the Egg plant ($12) and Stir-fried lemon grass and ginger chicken ($16). The former was mashy, and it kinds of resembled fish rather than egg plant, while the latter was mediocre.
When it comes to soup, I only like hot soup. Somehow I never like cold soup, I mean, soup should always be hot, otherwise it’s not soup right? At least, that’s my definition of soup. Even when it’s hot soup, I only like home-cooked Chinese soup. Which is why, you seldom see me ordering soup in restaurants. I’m not against soup, but I’d rather spend the money having another appetizer, or even better – an extra dessert. The intriguing name of Fresh Prawn in young coconut ($20 for 6 pieces) caught our attention, and the soup base was probably prepared for hours; it was rich, and intense and sweet.
* * *
NUOC is a very new restaurant, and they are still sorting out all the teething problems. When we went in December, the signature Vietnamese Pho (I remembered it as fur) was not even offered on the menu, I mean how can a Vietnamese restaurant not serve Pho right? Hopefully they should be serving Pho by now. Anyway, the view is gorgeous, if you want Vietnamese food in a nice ambience and do not mind paying more, NUOC might just be the place.
Long story short, if you like my review please do come by ladyironchef . . . for the delicious in you
Rating given:
Had lunch at The Dining Room at Raffles Town Club, which shares the same name as a Chinese restaurant in the upclass Crockford Towers at Resort World Sentosa, though the former has been in existence long before RWS made its foray Singapore. On a side note, Sheraton Towers Hotel has a restaurant named The Dining Room as well. Is the name generic or what?
Hidden in one corner of the club (the whole clubhouse is quite a maze actually), The Dining Room features a modernly styled interior with touches of classic European grandeur, giving rise to an understated luxurious yet cozy setting.
Lobster Risotto - Though this came as an appetiser (very small portions), the risotto was al dente, with a nice overall smooth and creamy feel to it. I could make out a whiff of truffle oil as well. Lobster portions were minimal of course and I thought that there was a mild overdose of salt. But other than that, it was a good starter.
Pan Fried Goose Liver - Nicely pan fried with little charred bits, the foie gras was smooth but not exactly what I would term as silky. And check out the copious amounts of oil in this tiny piece of liver. I'm not sure the 2 sticks of asparagus did any good in making this dish "healthier" so to speak.
Prime Rib of Beef - Deviating a little from my request, my prime rib was done medium well instead of medium rare and didn't carry much natural sweetness. On the upside, it was nicely grilled with a dash of salt for seasoning. Overall still quite decent.
Tiramisu - I certainly wasn't expecting a lychee in my tiramisu but I'm not complaining as I have a certain penchant for lychees, rambutans and the likes. I like the generous serving of mascarpone cheese but that's just about it. The sponge was a little hard but not dry, reminding me more of moist brownie, which isn't too bad if you can get past the psychological expectations part. If you like coffee, you will definitely appreciate the apparent coffee taste.
We had a leisurely and filling lunch in the comfort of an empty restaurant. Food in general hovered around the average to slightly above average level, which didn't quite justify the price tag ($173 for 4 pax) in my humble opinion. Still, brownie points for excellent service and professionalism. And it beats both the Japanese and Chinese restaurant at the club.
See all my pictures here.
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It was meant to be a Chinese New Year dim sum gathering with a couple of my makan kakis at Taste Paradise Ion. Unfortunately, only the ala carte menu was available because it was still within the CNY period. Which was fine with me, considering that I had a great meal at Taste Paradise Mosque Street 2 years back.
It must be posh interior fatigue that I was suffering from because the dim lighted luxurious interior with huge paintings of past Chinese emperors certainly didn't impress me much. But I must say it's definitely nicer than alot of the Chinese restaurants out there.
Crispy Silver Bait - We got off to a great start with the crispy silver bait, as recommended by our waitress. The silver fish was crisp and sweet with a touch of sour. Portion size was quite small so get more to share if you have a big group.
XO Carrot Cake - What used to wow me back then turned out to be sheer disappointment this time round. It was overly soft and I couldn't make out any savoury aftertaste. The only thing I could make out was the spice from the chilli, if you consider that a taste. I reckon your local hawker centre could do a much better job at a less than half the price for the same portion size.
Roasted Pork - This dish of roasted pork takes edibility to a new low and I'm not kidding. Each tiny cube was literally one layer skin, one layer lean meat and two layers of fats. Sure, the skin was crisp but the pork taste was just too overwhelming (they probably didn't blanch it long enough) and they tried to mask it by seasoning it with more salt. Someone commented it was akin to literally biting into a raw pig and I can't help but agree. Gross.
Peking Duck - At least the peking duck didn't suffer the same fate as the roast pork. It was decently crisp but overall could have been better. The crepes were a little too thick and could have done with less sweet sauce. Oh and the crackers that came alongside were just plain bland.
We opted to have the meat fried with rice and it was average at best. Rather tasteless and a tad too moist with an evident fowl smell. Poor duck.
Yuan Yang Prawn Ball - Finally a dish that presented a glimmer of hope - the yuan yang prawn ball, comprising of one wasabi prawn and one laksa prawn, served up in a martini glass. While both were big and crunchy, I personally favoured the wasabi prawn over the latter as the laksa seasoning did seem a little bland and lacklustre as compared to the more provocative wasabi.
Garoupa in Two Ways - This was apparently the special for the day and it honestly didn't look or taste as great as what our waitress had described to us. Presentation wise, it looked haphazard at best with the steamed garoupa and asparagus occupying the centre and flanked by fried pieces of garoupa. Generally speaking, the fish meat was fresh but sticky (too much corn flour!) and not very sweet. I couldn't quite make out the delicateness of the fish.
Tofu with Crab Roe - Another bordering on average dish. I appreciated the generous serving of crab meat shreds in the gravy but could have done with a little more flavour. ie. crab taste. Same goes for the tofu as well, which was barely in existence. One interesting/weird thing about the gravy was that it had a sourish overtone that didn't sit too well with either of us.
The bill dealt a $360 blow to the 7 of us. Food quality was average but service was decent. I cannot fathom how an excellent dinner at Taste Paradise Mosque Street could culminate in such a poor showing at the Ion outlet. Looks like I'll be placing my trust elsewhere in future.
See all my pictures here.
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Improved~
I came here almost 4 years ago and never revisited as I actually feel it is a bit pricey for crepes and at that time what I tasted was not spectacular, so the only reason I walked in on a Monday night was because I saw that they are having a 1-for-1 savoury crepes (promo is valid until end Mar from Monday to Thursday).
Tables alongside the fountain are taken up quite quickly, so we were assigned a 2-seater right beside the escalator. Tables are packed quite tightly perhaps to maximise the space, so good for evesdropping. Service was abit haphazard, with blur-ish staff looking spaced out sometimes.
Peking Duck (whole wheat crepe) - although I couldnt understand what 'sambal olek' sauce was and why lychees appeared in the description, it acutally turned out nice! The crepes were packed quite firmly with the meat and the sauce was very distinctively Peking duck without being too salty. My only fault with it was the fatty duck skin in the mix of onions; which I ate without knowing that it was there, then saw my friend painstakingly remove them from her plate.
Seafood (sun dried tomato crepe) - the menu says its spicy youghurt sauce but whatever I tasted was not really spicy but more of a tinge of spice to dress up the sauce itself. Actually I could only taste the prawns and the oranges in the crepes but overall taste was good too.
Each crepe came with a side of salad in a dressing which reminded me of orange vinegrette. Not too bad.
I'll come again for the offer but not without as I still think it is pricey. Quality of the crepes have improved from what I remember, so good for them.
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Everything here seems to be done with macha, drinks, shakes, lattes, ice creams, etc. A tad quiet on a Monday night and maybe that's why the air conditioning seemed to be a little too strong for me.
Hot macha latte - friend ordered the unsweetened version for me but maybe it was the wrong choice. It was terribly bitter and consistency was so thick it didnt taste like a 'latte' at all. I added some hot milk to dilute it but didnt turn out too different. Had to add a pack of sugar to make it bearable in the end. Lesson learnt - take the sweetened version.
Macha black saseme ice cream - ordering 2 scoops instead of 1 by 1 was a mistake, even though it was cheaper comparatively. The macha ice cream dissolved into a green puddle too quickly under the black saseme, the black saseme overpowered whatever macha taste I could find. I'm sure they taste great separately.
The place is semi-self service: write your orders on an order chit on the table, bring it to the counter, pay, and wait for your food / drinks. Prices are very reasonable for $6 per person too.
For macha lovers~
Most seats are low-back cushy seats but the layout of the seats don't really offer any privacy for chit chatting, unless you're lucky enough to snag 1 of their 2 booth seats, one of which unfortuantely was taken up by ONE lady during my visit. Sigh.
We got hit by a flying piece of porcelain when one of the staff broke something near the kitchen but maybe that's just bad timing for us.
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