Japan

My Japan trip from a few months back..

I chomped my way through Osaka and Kyoto...

Ramen

Cold Ramen with Sesame sauce. Very Chinese

One Michelin (Diamaru Osaka)

This was good but too expensive for what we ate… I won't go back there for that price.

Crab Restaurant

We had 8 courses of crab including crab sake below!

Seafood at Nishiki Market (Kyoto)

Seafood in Japan is ultra fresh. After that I will never view sushi and sashimi the same way again...

Kikunoi (3 michelin, Gion, Kyoto)

This was the pinnacle of my trip. There is a reason why this place is 3 michelin. the food, presentation, ambiance and service is impeccable. The lunch is not just a meal but an unforgettable experience.

My pictures just cannot do justice to the meal...

Dessert cafe (Gion, Kyoto)

Beef restaurant (near Nishiki Market)

I am deeply saddened that I don't have the address of this place and can't find it on the internet. The food was so affordable for such delicious beef. It was our last dinner in Kyoto and I was delighted to have ended it with such a good meal.

Sweety moments is no longer there!!

I always said sweety moments won't last!!

I was right. There is another shop in it's place that I have to check out.

Thyme and Parsley

I have no pictures of this meal as it was a sudden decision to try the place.

The food is not fancy but it is delicious, well seasoned and generous.

Which is a big plus for Singapore where there are full of fancy looking places that cannot even season their food properly.

I had a smoked duck salad, sirloin steak with potatoes and berry pannacotta for $38. If that is not value for good well seasoned food, I don't know what is.

The steak was grilled very nicely.

Even my mother who is picky with food (but who is also a very good cook in my view) was satisfied.

The set lunch with the steak is apparently $25. If I worked closer to this place, I would frequent it more often for lunch.

Website: http://www.parsleythyme.com/
Address: 61 Kampung Bahru Rd
Opening Hours: Mon- Fri 12-2, 6-10; Sat 6-10
Contact Number: 62262801
Price: $25 for lunch set and $38 for dinner set.

Meii Sushi has moved to International Plaza

Lil Papa's Wieners - closed and moved

Sorry that I haven't done entries for so long… But my entire family has been infected by BABY SUPER VIRUSES… so more important things had to take priority.

Back to this place…

I'm sure the person who set this up, choose the name to make people do a double take…

But anyway, this hotdog place has opened in the area in place of Meii sushi.

The place isn't really direct competition for the other hotdog joint in the area- Purple Mustard

This place is distinguishes itself as a beer and hotdog place.

The hotdogs aren't bad but I like Purple Mustard better for hotdogs alone.

I choose the hotdog with cheese, onions and bacon.

As you can see from the picture, the bacon isn't crispy enough. But it's not a bad hotdog and the combi comes with lemonade.

Website:http://www.facebook.com/lilpapawienersbeerstro
Address: Blk 7 Tanjong Pagar Plaza 01-108
Opening Hours:

Mon:	12:00 pm	-	11:30 pm
Fri:	12:00 pm	-	11:30 pm
Sat:	3:00 pm	-	12:00 am

Contact Number: 97650110

In Place of Meii Sushi

In Place of Meii Sushi, it is rumored that there will be a take away shop…

Nylon

This great little spot is situated in Everton Park HDB.

I had a chat with one of the owners who was very friendly and gave me a lot of information about their coffee.
It should open at 730 instead of 830 on weekdays to attract people on the way to work.
I only wish I had this place right below my block so I could have take away coffee every morning.

Website: http://www.facebook.com/nyloncoffeeroasters
Address: 4 Everton Park #01-40

Hair Bliss Indulgence Spa continues...

I got a call from the owner today saying that they found a suitable buyer to continue this business that they believe will service customers well…

Stuffed Squid with salad

I adapted a dish from Masterchef australia using couscous instead of breadcrumbs… Very yummy and not hard

Try it! http://tvnz.co.nz/masterchef-australia/char-grilled-stuffed-squid-green-bean-olive-and-tomato-salad-3044848

wine co-operative

I find good wines hard to find in Singapore and expensive at retail price as well.

I'm thinking of occasionally ordering some wines in from overseas in small quanitities (a box or two). They will mainly be wines that you can't get in Singapore.

I'm not doing this as a business but solely out of passion for food and wine, so wines will be at cost price + shipping.

If anyone is interested in this, do contact me at denise_chin2002@yahoo.com or just leave me a comment below so that I can get a feel if this is worthwhile for me to do.

Esquina

This newish tapas bar has Jason Atherton's name on it.

It's impossible to get into it for dinner as it is a small area sitting only about 19. Lunch and dinner prices are the same. But at least for lunch it isn't so crowded.

I think food here is good but a bit too pricey for the complexity. Wines are quite disappointing in my view but honestly wines in most restaurants in Singapore are very over priced and not very good.

Iberico ham and foie gras burger

This was really quite good. The saltiness of the iberico and the sweetness of the burger complimented one another. Plus, there was pulled pork in the burger giving it an extra texture.

I chose a botrytis chenin blanc (Loire valley) to go with this as I thought that the sweetness of it may lift the sweetness of the foie gras. When the staff first served me the wine, it was too warm. When I informed them of that, they kindly chilled it for me and then poured me another glass.

This went quite well with the dish except it masked some of the wonderful saltiness of the iberico. I think if there was a wine that was sweet but less sweet, it may have gone better with it.

The service staff there suggested a spanish cabernet sauvignon to go with the dish. I disagreed with them. The problem with the cabernet sauvignon is the tannins which are rough in texture and would clash with the dish. Also, there isn't sweetness to bring out the foie gras.

Upon consultation with my brother, he suggested a sweet rose. To understand more about wines, go to his blog http://www.wineandonly.info/

Gambas with sweet corn

The stock was rich with salty flavor from bacon that complimented the prawns. According to the staff, prawn shells are ordered in to create the rich broth. I wish I could purchase prawn shells… The corn was crunchy and not overcooked giving the dish texture.

Pistachio cake with vanilla ice cream and sangria jam

I really liked the sangria jam with the cake. It was sour sweet which lifted the cake. I would have liked it to be a wee bit sweeter as the pistachio cake was not sweet but had a good texture. The ice cream for me did not have an intense enough vanilla flavor.

I really liked the service staff… But I don't quite agree with their selection of wines.
I'm not sure about one of the chefs though. I asked about the food and he didn't seem very friendly. In fact, he seemed a bit put off by my question.

I liked the place but will I go back? I'm not too sure as I find it a bit costly.

Pricing: About $80 for 2 tapas mains, one dessert and wine.
Website: http://esquina.com.sg/
Location: 16 Jiak Chuan Rd

Hair Bliss indulgence Spa is closing

I gotthe e-mail below

"Dear Friends of Hair Bliss,

Thank you for your heartwarming support for Hair Bliss Herbal Hair Therapy over the past two and a half years, and it has been our pleasure to be of service to each and every one of you.

This business was borne out of passion and our belief in the therapy we have personally tried and benefitted. However, due to our mounting and challenging work schedule (yes, this is our little side business), we are unable to spend time to oversee the operations to our satisfaction and having put much consideration, regretfully we have to give up our passion.

Over the past months, the Hair Bliss team had been earnestly trying to identify a right buyer to take over the business, someone who shares the same passion and level of zest but unfortunately none met our criteria and it is with deepest regrets that we inform Hair Bliss Herbal Hair Therapy will cease business and our last day of operation will be on Saturday, 26th May 2012."

Crab pasta and a herby salad

This is a really healthy meal.
I got the basic crab pasta recipe from the book "under the Tuscan sun" and added some extra twists to it.
The herby salad which is far too healthy to eat on its own goes well with this dish. I felt so detoxed after it.

Ingredients: (I don't really have portions here.. I'll leave it to your preference)
Crab pasta
- Crab Meat. Being lazy, I got this in ready packs in Tiong Bahru market. It's ok but doesn't taste as good as if you extracted the crab meat yourself. But if you are busy and want the meal quickly, just buy this.
- Linguine
- Baby Tomatoes
- Garlic
- Shallots
- Lemon
Herb Salad
- Coriander
- Spring Onion
- Parsley
- Mint
- Basil
- Cucumber
- Avocado. I won't normally put this into the salad but I had to use the avocado as it was starting to blacken…
- Lemon
- Olive oil
- Garlic

Crab Pasta

1) Chop Garlic. Reserve some for the herb salad
2) Zest Lemon. Squeeze juice out. Part of it is for the herb salad.
3) Half baby tomatoes
4) Dice Shallots
5) Heat olive oil in pan under low fire. Put garlic and shallots in. Low fire is to slowly extract the flavor of the garlic and shallot out.
6) Once garlic and shallot start to soften increase to medium flame. Put baby tomatoes in non skin side down on pan. this is so that the baby tomatoes can cook faster and juices will flow out. Be careful not to have the flame too high as we want the tomato juice to be extracted. Season with salt and black pepper.
7) Boil Linguine in boiling salted water.
8) When tomatoes have soften, add crab meat in.
9) Add the pasta that has been cooked al dente into pan of tomatoes and crab meat. Transfer that pasta straight from the pot where the pasta is boiled into the pan. This is so that some of the water from the cooked pasta will go into the tomato sauce. This helps to thicken the sauce slightly.
10) Switch fire off. Add lemon zest and plenty of lemon juice to taste. This will make the dish fresh.

Herb Salad

1) Chop herbs.
2) Slice cucumber.
3) Scoop flesh of avocado out and dice it.
4) Mix the garlic, lemon juice and olive oil together to make a lemon vinaigrette. 3 portions oil to 1 portion lemon juice.
5) Mix vinaigrette with herbs, cucumber, avocado.

I would pile the greens on the pasta and eat the pasta with it.
This isn't complicated to make and very very healthy.

Roasted Prawns with tomatoes

I love this one pan meal. Little preparation work or washing.

Ingredients: This serves 4.
- Prawns (1kg)
- Baby Tomatoes (400g)
- Yellow capsicum (2)- I used red capsicum in the photo. Yellow looks nicer
- Garlic (8 pieces small pieces)
- Brown Onion (1)
- Lemon
- Thyme
- Coriander
- Bread (I used the baguette)

1) Take out seeds of each yellow capsicum and cut into 8 segments for each capsicum.
2) Pound each garlic piece once with the flat part of your knife. This will allow the garlic to cook faster.
3) Cut Onion into 8 segments.
4) Zest Lemon
5) Chop coriander
6) Put the prawns, baby tomatoes, capsicum, onion, garlic, thyme and lemon zest into a pan. If there is too much in one pan, you have to use 2 pans. As if there is too much in one pan, the items will steam rather than bake.
7) Pour olive oil generously on the items in the pan and season with salt and black pepper.
8) Put in oven at 180C. Roast it for 30 mins to 40 mins depending on prawn size.
9) When ready, put coriander leaves and squeeze lemon on top of the items. The lemon will lift the dish.
10) Toast the sliced bread

The juices of the prawns with the all the vegetables will create a wonderful sauce at the bottom of the pan.  Mop up those juices with warm crusty bread.

This is a great for a very busy mum. Plus less washing for hubby.

Some variations I use
- Use crayfish instead of prawns
- Add green beans in the last 10 mins of baking
- If you like olives, you can put that into the dish. It will give another dimension of flavor- some tartness.

Rose Citron

Elsa's childcare is closed for a couple of days. I find that when Elsa is with me, I tend to go out a lot more as she loves going out. Going out= better behaved Elsa.

I took a walk with her in our neighborhood and went into one of my favourite shops in the area.

This shop is an early entrant in this hip area being here for about 6 years. 

They sell beautiful home ware, bags and children clothes. They also do upholstery with lovely fabric. 

Do take a look at their website that also has an online shop. 

Website: http://www.rosecitron.com.sg/

Address: 23 Keong Siak Rd

Opening Hours: Mon- Fri 10am - 6pm; Sat 11am- 6pm; Sun &PH 10am - 4pm

COntact Number: 63231368

Peter's Char Kway Teow

 The best unhealthy Char Kway Teow I have eaten in recent years is from Penang. The thought of the noodles in shiny lard still excites me.
This place serves decent Char Kway Teow which is seriously hard to find in Singapore these days.

Good Char Kway Teow is not soggy as it has been semi dried out from the right amount of heat from the hot wok. 

Address: Blk 5 Tanjong Pagar Plaza

Some places that are opening...

At Orchid Hotel…

At 79 Kampong Bahru Rd. Looks like a cafe.

Cancale has opened

Cancale- French Seafood Restaurant on Duxton Hill has opened. Prices seem a wee bit pricey.

 

Strangers Reunion

New entrant into cafe scene on 37 Kampong Bahru Rd Shophouses… Coffee is soso. I think highland coffee on the same stretch has better coffee and chef icon has better hot chocolate.

But this place is a nice quiet chill out corner especially if you want to cuddle with a book or do some research on a laptop.

Address: 37 Kampong Bahru Rd
Website: http://www.facebook.com/StrangersReunion
Opening Hours: 9am - 10pm

Rong Xing Hakka Yong Tau Foo

This is the other Yong Tau Foo in Blk 5 Tanjong Pagar Plaza. A few stalls down from the other

Again, good but not spectacular…

Mushroom brushetta

What will a quick 10 min mushroom dish be?

Mushroom brushetta may I suggest. This simple dish can be a quick meal or a starter at a dinner party. It can be prepared easily in advance.

Ingredients:
- Mixed mushrooms
- Shallots
- Garlic
- White wine
- Thyme
- Parsley or other herbs
- Baguette sliced
- Lemon

1) Dice mushrooms
2) Chop shallots and garlic finely
3) Pick out thyme leaves
4) Chop parsley
5) Toast the baguette in oven for a few mins
6) Fry shallots and garlic gently in olive oil till translucent.
7) Add mushrooms in with thyme. Season with salt and pepper.
8) Add a splash of white wine. The mushrooms will soak this like a sponge.
9) Once mushrooms soft. Add a tiny bit of lemon in to lift the taste and parsley.
10) Put mushrooms on the baguette

I think this would taste good with goats cheese as well.

My brother suggested aged Pinot Noir (6-7 years) with some acidity to go well with this dish. Pinot Noir has the earthy flavors to match the mushrooms. The acidity will be good to cut through the goats cheese. This means the wine selected cannot be a new world wine as the wines from the new world are generally fruity.

For more wine tips go http://www.wineandonly.info/

Pomegranate, orange and walnut salad

I had 2 friends over for dinner last night.

It was a simple, steak, potatoes and salad dinner. Something quick for a weekday night with a bitte of Shiraz kindly brought over by a friend.

We happen to be an extremely greedy bunch and chomped up all the food before we took any pictures… Again…

I can only promise pictures next time.

But here is a recipe for a delicious and refreshing salad. The troublesome bit is the pomegranate. But it gives a fabulous lift to the dish

This serves 4 for a salad side ( I suspect it would serve 5-6 but we are all extremely greedy)

Ingredients: 
Salad-
Pomegranate (1/2 if big)
Oranges (2). I happened to be able to get pink flesh oranges for these which are so sweet and delicious! I don't think these ones were blood oranges but blood oranges will taste fab for this dish
Green Apple (1)
Walnuts (100g)
Baby Butterhead Lettuce (2)
Marjoram ( Optional, I think thyme, mint will also go well with this dish)
Dressing-
Honey
Red wine vinegar
Olive Oil

1) Roast walnuts for 5 mins in oven. I feel that this gets rid of some of the bitterness of the skin.
2) Cut pomegranate into thick wedges. To get seeds out of pomegranate, I fill a bowl of water and tear the seeds out of the wedges in the water. The seeds generally sink and the cork like part of the pomegranate skin usually floats. This separates the seeds from the rest of the fruit.
3) Cut skin of orange. Segment the orange flesh.
4) Peel green apple skin, then slice green apple in thin long pieces. Put the sliced strips in a bowl of water to prevent it from turning  brown. I like green apples over red ones in this dish as it has a bit more acidity that complements the sweetness of the pink oranges and pomegranate.
4) Roast walnuts for 5 mins in oven. I feel that this gets rid of some of the bitterness of the skin.
5) Chop off bottom stem of butterhead. Wash individual leaves in a bowl of water and then dry it in a salad spinner.
6) Pick off the herbs.
7) Prepare dressing in a screwtop bottle. I mix 1 part red wine vinegar to 3 parts oil and honey to taste. I probably won't do more than 40 ml of dressing otherwise salad will be too soggy.
8) Get a large bowl, put the lettuce leafs in there. Pour half dressing at bottom of bowl and mix leaves with dressing
9) Put rest of ingredients in the bowl. Pour the amount of dressing you want and coat the rest of the ingredients with dressing by mixing. In tossing ingredients, one must be gentle so that the herbs and leaves won't be broken by the tossing motion.

An important rule- only dress the salad before serving!! Otherwise, salad will go soggy.

If you want to make the salad a meal and want to add some meat/seafood and carbs, I suggest adding prawns and couscous.

Try it and tell me what you think.

My brother suggested what will go well with it would be a Tasmania Sauvignon Blanc. It has to be from Tasmania as flavours are not too grassy and not too mineral compared to the ones from New Zealand and France. To see more on his thoughts on wine, go to www.wineandonly.info

Quick tomato pasta (15 mins)

I had to whip up a quick meal tonight with what I had in the fridge and had no time to defrost anything. I was also too lazy to go to the supermarket.

Fortunately I had the following ingredients: (portions I used)
- Baby Tomatoes (1 packet about 200g??)
- Lemons (1)
- Smoked Salmon (150g)
- Spring onions (1 bunch, this all depends on what you like, other herbs like dill, parsley or basil will do well)
- Thyme

I also usually have these staples
- Shallots (one small so that taste is not too strong)
- Garlic (one large or 2 small cloves)
- Balsamic vinegar (to taste)
- Pasta

Some extras:
- Anchovies ( just to add an extra dimension, it may not be necessary. Other things that may taste good with this dish are capers or olives)
- Parmesan ( I personally prefer parmigiano reggiano shaved fresh but I didn't have any in my fridge…, I wonder if pecorino will taste good with this.)

This gave me enough to do a quick tasty pasta. What I love about this dish is that the only thing that needs cooking is the pasta. I have seen many variations of pasta of this sort before, so this recipe has been adapted from what I have seen…

1) Chop up shallots and garlic finely.
2) Put a bit of salt in the garlic and mash it into a paste. I find that this reduces the strong taste of raw garlic slightly
3) Half all the baby tomatoes. Good tomatoes for this dish is essential. I get mine from Tiong Bahru market. Most tomatoes in Singapore are crap.
4) Zest one lemon. Cut a quarter of lemon
5) Chop herbs. Thyme does not need to be chopped, just pick it.
6) Cook Pasta to Al Dente.
7) Mix the tomatoes, shallots, garlic, thyme, lemon zest, anchovies in a bowl.
8) Add olive oil generously.
9) Add Salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar, lemon to taste. Mash all the items in the bowl. The lovely juices of the tomato will mix with the other ingredients.
10) Add herbs in. We add herbs in after mashing so not to crush the herbs.
11) Add the still warm drained pasta to the bowl of ingredients.
12) Add the Parmesan in.
13) EAT!

This healthy dish can be done in 15 mins, trust me! Best of all not much washing up.
Sorry I have no pictures. I was starving and ate it all before thinking of the blog. I'll try to add the pictures next time.

Can someone take the pictures of my cooking for me as I always forget.
Any suggestions on what you would make with what I had?

Rong Xing Yong Tau Foo

Having Elsa in childcare finally frees me with some time to do some things!

And I'm not just talking about cleaning up my house, I'm talking about getting hawker food in the Tanjong Pagar Hawker Market in Blk 5.

Anyone who knows this place well knows that it is ridiculously difficult to maneuver during lunch with a baby. So finally is my chance...

I like good yong tau foo but it's not easy to find this. While many think yong tau foo is a healthy dish, it is only if you don't eat the fried stuff. I love fried food in yong tau foo.

There are 2 popular yong tau foo stores here supposedly run by two different sisters.
I only got this story from here http://ieatishootipost.sg/2011/05/rong-xing-yong-tau-foo-at-first-there.html#more

Anyway, it's not of too much importance to me. I just want to eat.

The one I went to has the above sign so that you guys don't get the two mixed up.

The soup base is not bad. It is sweeter than the average bland yong tau foo stores I go to in many hawker centres and food courts. Also the variety of fried yong tau foo was quite good.
But I like the one in Golden Shoe Hawker centre on level 3 much better despite the fame of this place. The yong tau foo in Golden Shoe has a much richer broth and also they have onion oil and sesame seeds there.

I think this is better than average but I'm not sure what the fuss is about.

I'm not a hawker food specialist admittedly. I only like something as much as my taste buds tell me. In this case, it says value for money and quality as a lot of good hawker food is. But it doesn't draw me back over and over again. I don't dream of it.

Location: Blk 5 #02-04

Rhone wine dinner 14/4/2012

My guests and I were too busy chomping, drinking and laughing to take pics.

But at least memories remain…

Here is my brother's wine review of the night- http://www.wineandonly.info/2012/04/southern-rhone-wine-dinner-140412.html

Cost us much cheaper than in a restaurant.

Pizzeria Mozza (MBS) and Andy Warhol

Pop Art and Pop Culture.
Isn't that what defines Andy Warhol and Pizza.

I think both experiences complement one another.
At least that is what I felt having pizza after seeing the Andy Warhol exhibit at MBS.

I went with Elsa and my brother to see Andy Warhol. Elsa fell asleep in my pouch half way during the exhibit so I doubt she got the full impact of it. I definitely enjoyed it especially with the art pieces he produced in the last decade of his life. It really made me see how the impact of color changes your perception of a piece of art.

If it's anything, the pizza for lunch made the day even better.

Some say Pizzeria Mozza is over priced. Mozza was worth my every cent.

Meat Pizza

First of all, if you observe the above picture, the pizza crust is absolutely beautiful. The base is thin and crisp. This is not like a biscuit which you get in skinny pizza but has a bit of bread texture of which you can see from the risen sides. The tomato sauce is rich and flavorful making one think of summer.

With the meat pizza, the savory saltiness of the meat accentuated the richness of the tomato sauce.

Roasted tomato and burrata

I liked this pizza even more than the meat one. First, the roasted tomato intensified the sweetness of the tomato and also the richness in texture. The creaminess of the burrata melted in my mouth. Words just cannot describe how good this is.

Caramel ice cream with marshmallow sauce and salted peanuts

I know salt on caramel is a much used and loved concept. There was a twist to this as they used salted peanuts instead of having the salt in the ice cream. I loved the marshmallow sauce with its fluffy texture. My only complaint- I want more marshmallow sauce. I love good homemade marshmallows as they taste so much better than the commercial stuff but its almost impossible to get.

Still dreaming about the pizza…

Website: http://www.pizzeriamozza.com/singapore/home.cfm

Location: 2 Bayfront Avenue The Shoppes @MBS, #B1-42/46

Price: $35 per person (3 of us not including Elsa of course)

Contact Number: 6688 8522

Share Tea

It was raining, I had Elsa in my pouch and bags and umbrella in another hand. I have no idea why I even attempted to get a bubble tea but I did.

I managed to fumble for my cash to get an oolong milk pearl tea. I could taste the oolong tea but it was a bit too bitter for the sweetness level I chose (30%). I wish that all bubble tea drinks purpose an ideal level for each of their different teas or at least get their counter staff to recommend.

I still prefer Woobee. The sugar at Woobee just makes the bubble tea there richer in texture that I don't get in the other bubble teas.

Website: http://www.facebook.com/shareteaSin

Location: International Plaza level 1

I think Meii Sushi has closed down

It seems that Meii Sushi has closed down as I saw a sign outside that says that the space is renting out...

Granny's Day Out

I went to Peninsular Plaza today with Elsa. I know its a strange place to go with a baby but I was looking for drawers for Elsa.
I was unsuccessful in finding drawers but I chanced upon this vintage clothes shop.

One thing that I like about this shop is that it is actually in an older building. The escalators were old, the place smelled old. This is not in a trendy part of town like Tanjong Pagar or Haji Lane. 

Also, there were some things I wanted to buy. 

Website: http://grannysdayout.net/

Location: 3 Coleman St 03-25 Peninsular Plaza

Opening Hours: Mon- Fri: 1pm- 8pm; Sun & PH: 1:30pm- 6:30pm

Contact Number: 63369774

Simply Salads

Wanted a quick lunch and I often crave for salads. Why? I think it's just a pure desire to clear out my system sometimes.

So I was pretty happy to see a new salad place just opposite my place especially since there aren't any other salad joints in the vicinity.

Pumpkin Salad and Beef Salad

I know the above picture really looks messy.
That is because this salad bar has ready made salads at the bar instead of creating it only when you order. In my opinion, this does not make a fresh crisp salad the way I like it.
The pumpkin salad was tasty enough as pumpkin baked in advance does not go soggy in the bar. However, the lettuce and raw vegetables in the beef salad have gone soggy with the dressing.
This place has broken the number one salad rule- only add in the dressing before the customer is going to eat it.

Also, strangely enough the counter staff asked me if I wanted to add sauce when the salads already had sauce.

What I can't complain about is the price- $6.50. The meal wasn't measly in size and it filled me up. For that price, I may still go back if I just want a salad.

Location: Orchid Hotel

Bubble Tea at Orchid Hotel

I wanted a quick lunch and grabbed a salad next door to this joint.

I call it Bubble Tea at Orchid Hotel because I can't find a English name for this. My bad Chinese means I can't read the Chinese characters on this bubble tea shop. Can someone help out?

Lemon Tangerine tea

Anyway, I got a lemon tangerine tea. This is my second time in this place, the first time I tried a milk tea. Both times, I could not taste any tea.

In fact, I call this lemon tangerine water.

Location: Corner shop at Orchid Hotel

WIld Honey at Scotts Square

The Tunisian

This was marked out to be one of their specials. The picture isn't very good but if you were there, you would be able to see that the tomato sauce is quite watery. Basically, I wasn't very impressed by the dish. It was quite bland and the spices didn't stand out. 

If you have ever eaten at Kazbah in Sydney that does Middle Eastern breakfasts, this pales in comparison.

If this is one of their specials, I'm only expecting the non specials to be worse.

The place is decked out quite nicely. Unfortunately, the food doesn't match up. I find this quite common in places in Singapore. Disappointing. 

Website: http://www.wildhoney.com.sg/10/index.htm
Location: Scotts Square, 6 Scotts Rd #03-01
Contact Number: 66361816
OPening HOurs: Mon- Fri: 9am -10pm; Sat - Sun: 9am - 1030pm

Majestic Restaurant

Majestic hotel is a lovely eclectic hotel is also well known for the chinese food in the restaurant.

I have heard plenty of good things about this place but have not had the chance to try till recently.

There is both ala carte and degustation. The degustation menu we picked was the $88++ for 6 courses.

Before the degustation, we decided to try the roast pork that we heard was good in the Majestic.

Roast Pork

The roast pork was quite disappointing for $12. It was not crispy enough. I found the roast pork at Vivocity crystal jade much better

Fried prawn coated with salted egg

Course 1: Fried prawn coated with salted egg yolk served with mixed fruit salad

It was nice with sweet and savoury overtones. The fruit salad was sweet and the salted egg yolk was savoury. The prawn was nicely fried with a thin batter to it. As the prawn was fresh, it had a crunch to it when I bit into it. However, I must say I like the original salted egg yolk prawns better as this dish lacked the unami sort of flavour that the original dish has.
It is a twist to the original. A nice start.

Course 2: Double boiled shark's fin soup with sea treasures and black truffle

This was quite good. The soup was clear and light with a delicate flavour without being bland. The meat in it was still tender and tasty. I think truffles should never be used in clear soup dishes though as I could not taste the truffle at all in the dish.

Course 3: Peking duck skin, pan seared foie gras and fried crab claw with sake and spicy chilli sauce

Fried Crab Claw

I think the peking duck skin is a waste. It is just a skin slice with sauce. The crab was tasty and robust with sweet and salty flavours.

Foie Gras with watermelom

The real surprise here for me was the foie gras. I saw it come with the watermelon and my heart sank. However, it ended up being a fantastic combination. The sweetness of the chilled watermelon really complemented the richness of the foie gras. Also the chilled watermelon added a refreshing dimension to the foie gras and did not overwhelm the creaminess of the foie gras. The foie gras was also cooked very well. It was seared to achieve browning and crispiness on the outside. The heat was also sufficient to make the inside melt.

Course 4: Braised South African whole abalone with homemade beancurd and garden greens

This was a typical Chinese dish. It wasn't a stand out. The beancurd was very smooth. The sauce was a bit to salty for me.

Lamb and carrot cake

Course 5: Grilled rack of lamb in honey and wok fried carrot cake

I had a rare tummy ache at this stage and could not eat the carrot cake cos it was too oily. Which is an absolute pity!!
I did have some lamb though and it was cooked very nicely. It was still pink and tender in the inside. I don't quite like the honey sauce which I feel overpowered the lamb.

Course 6: Choice of dessert- almond cream with egg white

I could not enjoy myself too much at this stage due to my stomach. I had a warm dessert as a cold one wasn't a wise idea.  Didn't really fancy my dessert. I may have enjoyed the durian Mao Shan Wan mousse or fried durian ice cream better as choices. I did end up stealing a taste of both from my friends and didn't think they were great.

Overall, this place had its hits and misses but its not a bad place to have modern Chinese.
The other place I have been before that is quite good as well for modern Chinese is Jade at the Fullerton.
However, I don't think neither places are really as good as modern Chinese could be. This is a fairly new genre that still needs to grow, I would love to try Bo Innovations in HongKong. Anyone tried it before??

Location: New Majestic Hotel 31-37 Bukit Pasoh Road
Website: http://www.restaurantmajestic.com/
Contact Number: 6511 4718
Price: About $110 for this particular meal