This is my second visit to Fish & Co, the first time being at the Glass house, on this occasion (quite some time ago) we went to the branch at Paragon. Fish & Co has grow from strength to strength since it started with their first store at Plaza Singapura in 1998, bring forward ten years and now they have 13 branches island-wide.
I believe most people know more or less about Fish & Co, so i shall skip the usual long-winded introduction and jump right into the food.
Swordfish Collar ($14.90) Chunky & juicy swordfish collar, fried & served with spicy mango vinaigrette. Given that Fish & Co specialise in fish & seafood, they got quite a list to choose from, so i thought i’ll get something special. Now now, how often do you see restaurants serve swordfish as a main course? Never or seldom right? Thats the idea!
Our first impression of the swordfish when the waitress served us the food, o-boy, the fish is huge! Seriously, there are three collar of swordfish, and its suppose to serve one person? Order this and share with your partner.
Fish & Chips ($13.90) The Fish & Co classic! Fried, topped with lemon butter sauce & served with chips. The lemon butter sauce is the life & soul of the fish, it added an extra dimension to the fish. But given the price is more or less as the other fishes, i rather try different type of fishes. But my mate wanted the safe option, so they had 2 of this.
Seafood Platter for 1 ($19.90) Platter of Seasonal fish, calamari & king prawn. Many people should have tried this one before i guess, the standard fish, calamari & the chips. Nothing new there, what i like it the rice from fish & co.
Seafood Platter for 2 ($35.90) You must be wondering why did we order the Seafood platter for 1, and then order another seafood platter for 2 right? Pardon me, but i didn’t know what were we thinking, we sort of over-ordered! Hahaha!
Nevertheless, Seafood platter for 2 is definitely more worth it than the platter for 1. Lets do some simple math, platter for 1 cost $19.90, so if you times by 2 it will come up to $40 right? But platter for 2 only cost $35.90, furthermore there is the addition of scallops which the platter for 1 didn’t have. Well, unless you are a small-eater, or eating alone, or refuses to eat scallop, Seafood platter is the choice.
Total bill for the 5 of us adds up to $122.90. Usually Fish & Co is relatively affordable, but i think in this instant we over-ordered, hence the bill seems a little expensive. But i think i won’t be going back to Fish & Co in just a while, having been there twice, what must try have been tried. There are more alternatives out there with the same price range. So don’t expect to see Fish & Co III unless somebody is giving me a treat. Like what i mentioned in the previous visit, there are other options if u really want to eat fish & co type of food, Manhattan Fish Market isn’t too bad, Hooked! provides many variety of fish, New York New York has some nice seafood platters around also, and Greenwood Fish Market is my favourite.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Happen to know that they had a one for one BBQ Courtyard Buffet and decided to give it a try. The only thing about this promotion is that it is from Friday to Sunday only, you have to print out the coupon and per table only 1 free diner buffet is allowed. Hmm… a bit weird right? Well so decided to give it a try and to call and make a booking to find out that they are fully booked until 2 weeks later. Wahahaha... Totally crazy leh. A few days before the buffet, they would actually called to confirm the reservation, nice touch right and at the same time to remind you of the buffet as well.
So on the day of reservation, we went down to find out that my name was not on the reservation list. However they decided to let us have a table. Since it is a BBQ buffet, they sort of set up a temporary restaurant at the courtyard, and there is no air con, open air concept. Quite interesting. The set up is actually quite interesting as the promotion is only valid for 1 diner per table so it attracted a lot of couples as well. In the end, it turn out that it looked like a mass speed dating event. Wahahaha… Really funny.
The BBQ pit is set in one corner of the area and the buffet line is set next to it. From the line it seems that they are offering limit items as it does not seen very long at all. The buffet started when someone announced the start of buffet and people started to walk towards the line.
For starters, there is only a few dishes like prawns, mussels, potato salad, green salad. My favorite here has to be the prawns. Big, fresh and sweet. There is no fishy smell and the meat is not mushy at all. Just great! Other then that, the rest of the starters are actually average.
Next to the main dishes, since it is a BBQ buffet, they got all sorts of BBQ items, chicken, pork, beef, mutton, seafood like prawns, mini lobsters and stingray, satay, otah. For satay (there is both chicken and mutton) and otah, it is pretty normal stuff. They also provide the peanut sauce for the satay as well. Now the meat, for me the one that impress me the most was the steak, it was grilled until it is medium cook. It is not too tough on the meat yet able to retain its natural juices inside the meat. It is grilled plain with some salt on top of it only. Great! The one that did not impress me too much is the prawns cos it does not turn out too good and lost all its natural flavor after BBQed.
There are still some cooked food like fried rice, noodles but quite limited as well. Everyone is aiming at the mini lobster, not me though, Sigh….. Whenever the chef put some in the tray, it is sure to attract a lot of people to it. So first come first serve, so if you are slow too bad none for you. There are some people that even walked up to the BBQ pit and ask the chef directly. Wahahaha…… Very KS leh. From my partner, the lobster although small but very good, sweet , meaty and juicy.
Now to the desserts, well by the time we got to desserts, there wasn’t a lot of choice. Got mango pudding, durian cake, cheng tng, fruits and a few kweks. Too bad nothing here impressed us too much. Or simply we are just too full to carry on already.
Even though with the temporary set up and the no air con, the dining environment was actually quite good.The service is actually good as well less the cock up on the reservation list. The water was always filled up and the plates are always cleared promptly. So usually the buffet cost $38 per person however with the promotion it cost about $17 per person only. Can consider quite cheap already. Writing this review is making me all hungry again! Hmm… Should I go back for another buffet before the promotion is over? Maybe I should!
My partner and I were invited for a Hi-Tea session on Valentine Day after a friend’s ROM ceremony. Well I have walked pass this place a few times but then it never left any impression for me that I have to feel this urge to go in and give it a try.
The location of the restaurant is just right next to the main door of the hotel, so it is kinds of hard to miss it. Once you step into it, you will see a mini bakery, where they are selling some cakes etc. The first impression of the place is quite big with seats all over. Have to say that one on a weekday, being Valentines Day, it is almost full. Seeing a crowd could mean that the food spread can be pretty good. So was I right? Hmm….
The buffet spread was spread over s few stations. First stop is the cold starters. So they got the usual stuff like prawns, mussels, sushi, sashimi, cold soba etc. Well. I tasted a bit of everything and concluded that nothing is special. To me, only the prawns sort of impressed me. They are cold, big and fresh, just the way I like it. For the rest of the items, hmm… forgettable. Interesting enough, next to the cold starters, is a mini toast your own bread counter, Ah Kun style, with the traditional brown and white bread and you can put them on a hot plate and roast it. Slices of butter, kaya and other jams are available. Good idea but does not taste that great.
Now to the main, nothing special, some of the usual stuff again. However they got a lot of small stations for popiah, laksa etc. Again none of the food impresses us again. Consider as normal food. Well at least they are hot. By now, I am already feeling very sian about the whole buffet alr. Sigh…. I think the only good thing is only the bread where there is a lot of variety and hot out from the oven. It is good enough to taste good.
Lastly Desserts. At first when I walked past the desserts sections, I was quite impressed with the variety that they are offering. When I walked over to the station, I was less impressed, as all the usual suspects are there, the cakes and pudding etc. There is also one big fountain of strawberry chocolate, have the say that the pink color does not make it appealing as it reminds me of cough syrup. At the other corner of the room hidden are two pots of hot desserts like dao suan etc. Hmm… How come they are not placed together in the first place?
Cost per person of Hi-Tea on weekdays is $25 and on weekends is $32 (if my memory has not failed me)
Overall the whole place and the food did not impress me at all. Therefore I think the crowd is there cost of the cheap price during weekends. The service there is quite bad, as we were sitting in a corner, my tea was only filled when I was first seated after which it remain empty throughout. The funny thing is when I was away; the plates will be cleared by them, then how come my tea is not refilled? Hmm…… So I dun think I will be back to this place for buffet unless someone can prove me otherwise.
The name Tuck Shop rings a bell in your mind doesn’t it? To many of us it is the carefree times during our primary school time, where we run to the tuckshop for our recess break.
Located at the alley of Tanjong Pagar Road (5min walk from Tanjong Pagar MRT), Tuckshop is actually a combination of a cafe and bar, i’ll say more of a place to chill out, but serving food that’s more than just finger food, they whipped out something more for a bar. The indoor decor is quite cool, blue-painted walls, with simple black furnitures, and the draw of the place will be its live music by the Singapore band “The Bandits” every Wed & Thu, and tuckshop residents Dean & J’Manuka every Fri.
My first encounter with Tuckshop didn’t go smoothly, it was during a sat evening with a group of 10, we set off happily to Tuckshop, but to our dismay, the place was fully booked. I didn’t make any prior reservations, so in the end we ended up at New Harbour Cafe.
So this time, i went there during lunch time with my lunch mates. When we arrived at 12, it was still empty, but the crowd starts to come in and i must say the crowd was not too bad considering a weekday lunch period.
Having heard plenty of good things and the hype about Tuckshop given several magazines and ieatishoot have written good comments about the place, i had high expectations about the place, but after the visit, i was disappointed.
Steak Sandwich ($12.50) Caramelised onions and a portobello mushroom mayo on a toasted focaccia. Much rave comments have been said about Tuckshop’s Steak sandwich, such as “tasty steak sandwich starring juicy beef & portobello mushroom”, “a juicy steak sandwich (the meat & mushroom nicely charred)”, “the steak sandwich - a big cut of juicy grilled beef, caramelised onions, and a portobello mushroom on crusty focaccia was highly succulent..”
Unfortunately, the steak sandwich did not give me any of those. I find the beef to be rather on the fat side, nothing special about the steak sandwich really. So much for hypes! I’m sorry if you are a fan of Tuckshop’s steak sandwich, but this is just my personal opinion, no offence taken.
Fish & Chips ($8.50) White fish in a tasty batter, served with rich tata sauce. The portion of the pacific dory was definitely generous, cripsy on the outside, and soft on the inside. I guess given the price and the serving size, there’s nothing much to complain about.
Lemon Butter Pan Fried Fish ($15) Fillet of pan seared cod fish served with lemon butter sauce, mash and a side of green salad. My friend commented that the Lemon Butter Pan Fried Fish was quite average, not really sufficient to warrent another visit. N’uff said already!
Ice Cream Chef single scoop ($3.50) You must be wondering, what’s Ice Cream Chef doing in Tuckshop? Well, Tuckshop thinks that Ice Cream Chef does their ice cream with the same passion as them, so explained the presence of Ice Cream Chef.
Personally i won’t order ice cream chef’s ice cream from tuckshop, i’ll go down to Ice Cream Chef shop to try them. But my friend is craving for some desserts, so here goes, Nutella ice cream single scoop. I had a taste, and i think it isn’t comparable to the nutella flavour that i had at Island Creamery, Daily Scoop, or Haato. (i am a huge fan of nutella just for the record). Tried any of the three and you can get better ice cream. but then again i can be wrong since i never try the ice cream from Ice Cream Chef’s shop.
Total bill was $43.10 for 3 person. Not expensive i’ll say, but mayb not enough to make me do a Tuckshop II review. More needs to be done to the menu, hype alone will only get you that far. Again, no offence, like i always say: Whatever written herein are my geniune feelings about my food adventure, expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias.
But to be fair, it’s a good place for friends to chillout i guess, given the relatively affordably-priced food, and the live music environment, and another plus point will be its just a stone throw away from the Central District Business area, so people working in the area can go for a drink after a work day of stress.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
I went to the IT Show yesterday after 7pm, and as expected, everyone headed down on the first day too, in hope to avoid the even massive jam over the weekend.
I did a survival guide for those who's visiting IT Show. If you're keen to read, please go to my blog.
One concern I have at such a crowded event... what IF there's an emergency? I wonder how will they evacuate that many people within the shortest time possible. But I'm sure the organisers would have all these planned and ironed out long ago.
Everyone knew that the place is going to be packed, but still everyone still wants to go check out the prices. Why? Cos they always have very good bundles and discounts at the show. Especially for those who hate shopping and comparing prices at so many stalls around Sim Lim or Funan, shows like this is the easiest for them. Perhaps the price is not the cheapest, but with a little more, you get whole lot of goodies. So why not right?
Have you gone to the show too? Did you get anything there?
Finally after a very long wait, I happened to have the chance to try out the chicken which everyone is raving about, saying that it is much better than KFC. Well I don’t think KFC is that good to start off with. Since we need to send people off airport, I decided to make use of this chance to try it out.
So excited when we reached there, as usual there is a long queue going on, well 4 people in front of me. There are 3 counters serving at the same time but only one queue. They worked in the way of how you queue at the bank. Not a bad thing but then some people might be put off by the very long one queue.
Seem that it is very popular among a lot of people as they all bought a lot of sets meals, and thus explains the long waiting time as well. Well three counters, so only three people serving at the same time. Since I am so keen on trying it, I wait! Wahahaha…..
I ordered a two piece meal that comes with a side dish and a drink. Their chicken got a choice of spicy and mild version as well. Well I ordered one of each, and got one big piece of big breast meat and one small little chicken wing. Ordered their Cajun fries as the side dish and got a cup of coke. Also added coleslaw as side dish as well. The set also comes with their famous biscuit as well. It comes with a small pack of strawberry jam.
May the tasting begin! I am not a big fan of breast meat but I like thie breast meat. It is crispy on the outside but soft and juicy on the inside. It is not dry at all. The flour covering the chicken is not very thick and it got a hint of herbs being used as well. Taste great! Definitely beats KFC hands down. The thing is both of us could not taste the different between mild and spicy version. Hmm…. Or we got both the same version. Their fries are good enough of their own. It is crispy on the outside but soft and moist on the inside. Seems like they seasoned it with herbs as well. Good! Their coleslaw tasted like the coleslaw that KFC used to produce in the 80s. It is good with big chucks of cabbage and enough mayo to taste. Finally the famous biscuit, it is hard on the outside but soft and fluffy inside. On its own, it tastes like a butter biscuit, but do find it a bit dry and hard to sallow. Together with the strawberry jam, it tastes better.
Overall, I think the fried chicken rocks here but hope that they do open other outlets soon! Hopefully in town! Then now I am officially a Popeyes Fried Chicken Fan!
This little stall is well hidden in a café of Yio Chu Kang Road. Frankly speaking, if I don’t work nearby the café, I would have never found out about this stall. The café is along the side with a few coffee shops but it is almost packed to brim when it comes to lunch time.
The café is a very small and humble set up. Simple tables with white chairs and with a TV showing some lunch time show. The café is air conditioned and got outdoor seats for the smokers as well. There are only 3 stalls, one selling drinks, one selling noodles and the last one selling roast meat. So this review shall focus on the stall selling roast duck: Sally Roast Meat Rice.
The stall is managed by 2 sisters and of course the name Sally belongs to the elder sister if I am not wrong. It seems that they had been around doing this for sometime. Their stall also got paste a number of newspapers cutting and even got on a TV show before. They got all the nice logos on display. During lunch, most of the people will buy from their stall so prepared to join a long queue. For good food, it is totally worth to queue. They are very friendly as well, if you ask nicely to them for a little more rice, they will give it to you with no extra charge.
Since they are selling roast meat, of course they sell all kinds of roast meat, from duck, to meat and even BBQ chicken wings. On their stall front, just before lunch, they always display all the wonderful, shiny, meat.
Let me start off with their roast duck, their ducks are consider rather big in size. Their ducks are roasted until they have very nice and crispy looking skin. They have an even dark red color throughout the duck. The meat is juicy and soft, not tough at all. The skin is crispy and not oily. Other ducks tend to have a lot of fats but their ducks seem to have very little of it. Therefore when eating the duck, you dun have to chew off the fats first. A plate of duck rice comes with a large portion of nicely chopped duck meat and it only cost $3. It is a must try.
Their Char Siew is also another star on its own. Their char siew is roasted until dark red brown color with a shiny finishing and a bit of chao da bits at its corner. The meat they chose are lean so dun have much fats inside. They cut into slightly thick slices when serves. I like the taste where it is not too sweet and at the same time meat is soft and juicy. Unlike those that are sold in the market where their char siew are bright red in color and taste super sweet one.
Roast meat is something that I usually try not to eat but their roast meat has a thick crispy skin, together with the fat layer and the meat makes a wonderful combination. Got me totally hooked onto their roast meat.
BBQ Chicken Wing, this one alone is worth 5 stars already. Their BBQ chicken wing is like their char siew, dark red brown color with a shiny finishing and a bit of chao da bits. I think they used the same seasoning for both. It is also not too sweet and the meat is soft and juicy, not dry at all.
My usual order would be duck rice char siew 1 chicken wing, and the cost is only $4.70 and it comes with a very big size of rice. Sometimes to give myself a treat, I will buy a duck drumstick. Yum Yum! Something to mention here, every order comes with a free soup. Their free soup is made from all the leftover bones of the roasted duck and a type of preserved spicy vegetable. So to say there is extra meat in the soup. Free of charge some more!
Recently they started to sell sliced fish soup also but sad to say they should just stick to selling of the roasted meat can alr. Their sliced fish soup, although comes with a generous serving of sliced fish, but the soup base is tasteless with a very peppery taste. Not tasty at all.
So you keen to give it a try? Give me a call then I can bring you there for lunch!
1/2 Price Tuesday! So 1/2 the menu and service too?
Felt like having waffles yesterday so I met my girlfriend for dinner at Gelare. The last time I went, the mushroom cream pasta was pretty shiok. But yesterday our experience was in fact, very bad.
This outlet at Hougang Mall is pretty small and getting a table for 4 wasn't easy. After 20mins of waiting outside, finally we got our table. They've now improved on their menu and there were many choices that looks quite good. Since we were there for the waffles and pasta, we didn't get distracted. We wrote our orders on the order sheet provided at every table and went to the cashier to place our order.
While waiting in the queue, I realised that the ice cream choice we wanted wasn't available. And thus I tried to remember whatever that's there and walked back to the table to check with my friends. By then, I've already forgotten 80% of the choices available. Had to walk all the way back to check again and then back to the table to change our orders. Statisfied with our choice of ice cream for our waffles, we got back to the queue and when its our turn, the cashier told us that they had run out of mushroom cream pasta!!! (They could have indicated somewhere or inform us when they cleared the table right?) My friend had to walk back to our table and check what we want to change our pasta to, and then we changed our order AGAIN and joined the queue AGAIN!
We ended walking back and forth for about 5 times before we placed our orders with the cashier!
Our pasta was served first and one look at it I lost my appetite. We ordered tomato seafood pasta, the pasta looked pathetic with the little amount of sauce that only managed to cover 1/3 of the pasta for mine and 1/2 of the pasta for my friends'. We were too hungry to complain and so we just went ahead with what was given.
After our pasta, we stayed to chat while waiting for the waffles which was finally served after more than 30 mins! We did indicate to serve our waffles later, aka after we're done with our pasta, but not till that late.
Very disappointed about yesterday's experience. Guess I'll just forget about the pasta and just go for their waffles the next time.
I had a chance to take a ride on the Singapore Flyer before it was officially opened to public. I was very very excited and was looking forward to the flight. I was there at night and as it was not open to public yet, there wasn't much people there. The flyer was lighted in blue neon color at night and gives a very dreamy feeling at night.
Everyone has to pass through a security check, like at the customs, before entering the boarding area. To get to the flyer itself takes abit of walking and couple of escalator. And before stepping onto the boarding platform, everyone will enter into a mock up of the capsule where photos will be taken. ($15 for the first photo, $10 for subsequent copies.) This photo is supposed to be superimposed into the back drop and show as if we took it while riding on the Singapore Flyer. You can buy the photo after the flight with the magnetic tag passed to you at the mock up photo taking area.
Finally we saw the capsule! Boarding the capsule can be rather tricky. It continues to move as everyone rushed up to get into the capsule before the boarding period passes. I wonder if they carter for handicaps entrance. Probably they'll have to stop the moving flyer for such boardings. The capsule was not as big as I’d imagined. 24 of us standing around the capsule already seemed rather packed and it was rather warm inside the capsule. Can't imagine hot hot it might be in the day when the sun is above.
The view from the top of the capsule was magnificent. You get to see the beautiful skyline from high above. It's recommended that you move around the capsule and enjoy the entire 360-degree view. If you are planning to take photos, its advisable to bring a tripod and set it up before you're 1/4 way up the flight. The glass used isn't suitable for photo taking with flash. So you'll have to have very steady hands or use flash and missed out the beautiful backdrop in the background of your photo.
I'll probably return for another flight when the construction of Marina Bay is complete. Now only one side has got good view.
The first impression I got when I stepped into the cafe is the use of bright colors and 2 huge Jalapeno plushie on display at the capsule display near the entrance. There's a row of booth seats thats great for big group gatherings. Very cosy place to chill out and enjoy the night with friends.
As I was there for an event, I didn't get to take a look at their menu. Everyone was served a sampler plate with fried calamari, wedges, soft burrito and some jalapeno-liked thing with stuffings. I like the fried calamari as it was tasty and crispy. Would surely order this if I go back again. And the jalapeno was as flavorful, not sure wat's inside the stuffing thou as I was too hungry to slowly taste and analyzes them.
Perhaps Yebbers can arrange a gathering there? Hmm...
1=SGD 0.0587
This is my second visit to Fish & Co, the first time being at the Glass house, on this occasion (quite some time ago) we went to the branch at Paragon. Fish & Co has grow from strength to strength since it started with their first store at Plaza Singapura in 1998, bring forward ten years and now they have 13 branches island-wide.
I believe most people know more or less about Fish & Co, so i shall skip the usual long-winded introduction and jump right into the food.
Swordfish Collar ($14.90)
Chunky & juicy swordfish collar, fried & served with spicy mango vinaigrette. Given that Fish & Co specialise in fish & seafood, they got quite a list to choose from, so i thought i’ll get something special. Now now, how often do you see restaurants serve swordfish as a main course? Never or seldom right? Thats the idea!
Our first impression of the swordfish when the waitress served us the food, o-boy, the fish is huge! Seriously, there are three collar of swordfish, and its suppose to serve one person? Order this and share with your partner.
Fish & Chips ($13.90)
The Fish & Co classic! Fried, topped with lemon butter sauce & served with chips. The lemon butter sauce is the life & soul of the fish, it added an extra dimension to the fish. But given the price is more or less as the other fishes, i rather try different type of fishes. But my mate wanted the safe option, so they had 2 of this.
Seafood Platter for 1 ($19.90)
Platter of Seasonal fish, calamari & king prawn. Many people should have tried this one before i guess, the standard fish, calamari & the chips. Nothing new there, what i like it the rice from fish & co.
Seafood Platter for 2 ($35.90)
You must be wondering why did we order the Seafood platter for 1, and then order another seafood platter for 2 right? Pardon me, but i didn’t know what were we thinking, we sort of over-ordered! Hahaha!
Nevertheless, Seafood platter for 2 is definitely more worth it than the platter for 1. Lets do some simple math, platter for 1 cost $19.90, so if you times by 2 it will come up to $40 right? But platter for 2 only cost $35.90, furthermore there is the addition of scallops which the platter for 1 didn’t have. Well, unless you are a small-eater, or eating alone, or refuses to eat scallop, Seafood platter is the choice.
Total bill for the 5 of us adds up to $122.90. Usually Fish & Co is relatively affordable, but i think in this instant we over-ordered, hence the bill seems a little expensive. But i think i won’t be going back to Fish & Co in just a while, having been there twice, what must try have been tried. There are more alternatives out there with the same price range. So don’t expect to see Fish & Co III unless somebody is giving me a treat. Like what i mentioned in the previous visit, there are other options if u really want to eat fish & co type of food, Manhattan Fish Market isn’t too bad, Hooked! provides many variety of fish, New York New York has some nice seafood platters around also, and Greenwood Fish Market is my favourite.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
“ I eat faster than i blog ”
Rating given:
Happen to know that they had a one for one BBQ Courtyard Buffet and decided to give it a try. The only thing about this promotion is that it is from Friday to Sunday only, you have to print out the coupon and per table only 1 free diner buffet is allowed. Hmm… a bit weird right? Well so decided to give it a try and to call and make a booking to find out that they are fully booked until 2 weeks later. Wahahaha... Totally crazy leh. A few days before the buffet, they would actually called to confirm the reservation, nice touch right and at the same time to remind you of the buffet as well.
So on the day of reservation, we went down to find out that my name was not on the reservation list. However they decided to let us have a table. Since it is a BBQ buffet, they sort of set up a temporary restaurant at the courtyard, and there is no air con, open air concept. Quite interesting. The set up is actually quite interesting as the promotion is only valid for 1 diner per table so it attracted a lot of couples as well. In the end, it turn out that it looked like a mass speed dating event. Wahahaha… Really funny.
The BBQ pit is set in one corner of the area and the buffet line is set next to it. From the line it seems that they are offering limit items as it does not seen very long at all. The buffet started when someone announced the start of buffet and people started to walk towards the line.
For starters, there is only a few dishes like prawns, mussels, potato salad, green salad. My favorite here has to be the prawns. Big, fresh and sweet. There is no fishy smell and the meat is not mushy at all. Just great! Other then that, the rest of the starters are actually average.
Next to the main dishes, since it is a BBQ buffet, they got all sorts of BBQ items, chicken, pork, beef, mutton, seafood like prawns, mini lobsters and stingray, satay, otah. For satay (there is both chicken and mutton) and otah, it is pretty normal stuff. They also provide the peanut sauce for the satay as well. Now the meat, for me the one that impress me the most was the steak, it was grilled until it is medium cook. It is not too tough on the meat yet able to retain its natural juices inside the meat. It is grilled plain with some salt on top of it only. Great! The one that did not impress me too much is the prawns cos it does not turn out too good and lost all its natural flavor after BBQed.
There are still some cooked food like fried rice, noodles but quite limited as well. Everyone is aiming at the mini lobster, not me though, Sigh….. Whenever the chef put some in the tray, it is sure to attract a lot of people to it. So first come first serve, so if you are slow too bad none for you. There are some people that even walked up to the BBQ pit and ask the chef directly. Wahahaha…… Very KS leh. From my partner, the lobster although small but very good, sweet , meaty and juicy.
Now to the desserts, well by the time we got to desserts, there wasn’t a lot of choice. Got mango pudding, durian cake, cheng tng, fruits and a few kweks. Too bad nothing here impressed us too much. Or simply we are just too full to carry on already.
Even though with the temporary set up and the no air con, the dining environment was actually quite good.The service is actually good as well less the cock up on the reservation list. The water was always filled up and the plates are always cleared promptly. So usually the buffet cost $38 per person however with the promotion it cost about $17 per person only. Can consider quite cheap already. Writing this review is making me all hungry again! Hmm… Should I go back for another buffet before the promotion is over? Maybe I should!
Rating given:
My partner and I were invited for a Hi-Tea session on Valentine Day after a friend’s ROM ceremony. Well I have walked pass this place a few times but then it never left any impression for me that I have to feel this urge to go in and give it a try.
The location of the restaurant is just right next to the main door of the hotel, so it is kinds of hard to miss it. Once you step into it, you will see a mini bakery, where they are selling some cakes etc. The first impression of the place is quite big with seats all over. Have to say that one on a weekday, being Valentines Day, it is almost full. Seeing a crowd could mean that the food spread can be pretty good. So was I right? Hmm….
The buffet spread was spread over s few stations. First stop is the cold starters. So they got the usual stuff like prawns, mussels, sushi, sashimi, cold soba etc. Well. I tasted a bit of everything and concluded that nothing is special. To me, only the prawns sort of impressed me. They are cold, big and fresh, just the way I like it. For the rest of the items, hmm… forgettable. Interesting enough, next to the cold starters, is a mini toast your own bread counter, Ah Kun style, with the traditional brown and white bread and you can put them on a hot plate and roast it. Slices of butter, kaya and other jams are available. Good idea but does not taste that great.
Now to the main, nothing special, some of the usual stuff again. However they got a lot of small stations for popiah, laksa etc. Again none of the food impresses us again. Consider as normal food. Well at least they are hot. By now, I am already feeling very sian about the whole buffet alr. Sigh…. I think the only good thing is only the bread where there is a lot of variety and hot out from the oven. It is good enough to taste good.
Lastly Desserts. At first when I walked past the desserts sections, I was quite impressed with the variety that they are offering. When I walked over to the station, I was less impressed, as all the usual suspects are there, the cakes and pudding etc. There is also one big fountain of strawberry chocolate, have the say that the pink color does not make it appealing as it reminds me of cough syrup. At the other corner of the room hidden are two pots of hot desserts like dao suan etc. Hmm… How come they are not placed together in the first place?
Cost per person of Hi-Tea on weekdays is $25 and on weekends is $32 (if my memory has not failed me)
Overall the whole place and the food did not impress me at all. Therefore I think the crowd is there cost of the cheap price during weekends. The service there is quite bad, as we were sitting in a corner, my tea was only filled when I was first seated after which it remain empty throughout. The funny thing is when I was away; the plates will be cleared by them, then how come my tea is not refilled? Hmm…… So I dun think I will be back to this place for buffet unless someone can prove me otherwise.
Rating given:
The name Tuck Shop rings a bell in your mind doesn’t it? To many of us it is the carefree times during our primary school time, where we run to the tuckshop for our recess break.
Located at the alley of Tanjong Pagar Road (5min walk from Tanjong Pagar MRT), Tuckshop is actually a combination of a cafe and bar, i’ll say more of a place to chill out, but serving food that’s more than just finger food, they whipped out something more for a bar. The indoor decor is quite cool, blue-painted walls, with simple black furnitures, and the draw of the place will be its live music by the Singapore band “The Bandits” every Wed & Thu, and tuckshop residents Dean & J’Manuka every Fri.
My first encounter with Tuckshop didn’t go smoothly, it was during a sat evening with a group of 10, we set off happily to Tuckshop, but to our dismay, the place was fully booked. I didn’t make any prior reservations, so in the end we ended up at New Harbour Cafe.
So this time, i went there during lunch time with my lunch mates. When we arrived at 12, it was still empty, but the crowd starts to come in and i must say the crowd was not too bad considering a weekday lunch period.
Having heard plenty of good things and the hype about Tuckshop given several magazines and ieatishoot have written good comments about the place, i had high expectations about the place, but after the visit, i was disappointed.
Steak Sandwich ($12.50)
Caramelised onions and a portobello mushroom mayo on a toasted focaccia. Much rave comments have been said about Tuckshop’s Steak sandwich, such as “tasty steak sandwich starring juicy beef & portobello mushroom”, “a juicy steak sandwich (the meat & mushroom nicely charred)”, “the steak sandwich - a big cut of juicy grilled beef, caramelised onions, and a portobello mushroom on crusty focaccia was highly succulent..”
Unfortunately, the steak sandwich did not give me any of those. I find the beef to be rather on the fat side, nothing special about the steak sandwich really. So much for hypes! I’m sorry if you are a fan of Tuckshop’s steak sandwich, but this is just my personal opinion, no offence taken.
Fish & Chips ($8.50)
White fish in a tasty batter, served with rich tata sauce. The portion of the pacific dory was definitely generous, cripsy on the outside, and soft on the inside. I guess given the price and the serving size, there’s nothing much to complain about.
Lemon Butter Pan Fried Fish ($15)
Fillet of pan seared cod fish served with lemon butter sauce, mash and a side of green salad. My friend commented that the Lemon Butter Pan Fried Fish was quite average, not really sufficient to warrent another visit. N’uff said already!
Ice Cream Chef single scoop ($3.50)
You must be wondering, what’s Ice Cream Chef doing in Tuckshop? Well, Tuckshop thinks that Ice Cream Chef does their ice cream with the same passion as them, so explained the presence of Ice Cream Chef.
Personally i won’t order ice cream chef’s ice cream from tuckshop, i’ll go down to Ice Cream Chef shop to try them. But my friend is craving for some desserts, so here goes, Nutella ice cream single scoop. I had a taste, and i think it isn’t comparable to the nutella flavour that i had at Island Creamery, Daily Scoop, or Haato. (i am a huge fan of nutella just for the record). Tried any of the three and you can get better ice cream. but then again i can be wrong since i never try the ice cream from Ice Cream Chef’s shop.
Total bill was $43.10 for 3 person. Not expensive i’ll say, but mayb not enough to make me do a Tuckshop II review. More needs to be done to the menu, hype alone will only get you that far. Again, no offence, like i always say: Whatever written herein are my geniune feelings about my food adventure, expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias.
But to be fair, it’s a good place for friends to chillout i guess, given the relatively affordably-priced food, and the live music environment, and another plus point will be its just a stone throw away from the Central District Business area, so people working in the area can go for a drink after a work day of stress.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Hype will only get you that far “
Rating given:
Don't go if you don't have anything to buy!
I went to the IT Show yesterday after 7pm, and as expected, everyone headed down on the first day too, in hope to avoid the even massive jam over the weekend.
I did a survival guide for those who's visiting IT Show. If you're keen to read, please go to my blog.
One concern I have at such a crowded event... what IF there's an emergency? I wonder how will they evacuate that many people within the shortest time possible. But I'm sure the organisers would have all these planned and ironed out long ago.
Everyone knew that the place is going to be packed, but still everyone still wants to go check out the prices. Why? Cos they always have very good bundles and discounts at the show. Especially for those who hate shopping and comparing prices at so many stalls around Sim Lim or Funan, shows like this is the easiest for them. Perhaps the price is not the cheapest, but with a little more, you get whole lot of goodies. So why not right?
Have you gone to the show too? Did you get anything there?
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Finally after a very long wait, I happened to have the chance to try out the chicken which everyone is raving about, saying that it is much better than KFC. Well I don’t think KFC is that good to start off with. Since we need to send people off airport, I decided to make use of this chance to try it out.
So excited when we reached there, as usual there is a long queue going on, well 4 people in front of me. There are 3 counters serving at the same time but only one queue. They worked in the way of how you queue at the bank. Not a bad thing but then some people might be put off by the very long one queue.
Seem that it is very popular among a lot of people as they all bought a lot of sets meals, and thus explains the long waiting time as well. Well three counters, so only three people serving at the same time. Since I am so keen on trying it, I wait! Wahahaha…..
I ordered a two piece meal that comes with a side dish and a drink. Their chicken got a choice of spicy and mild version as well. Well I ordered one of each, and got one big piece of big breast meat and one small little chicken wing. Ordered their Cajun fries as the side dish and got a cup of coke. Also added coleslaw as side dish as well. The set also comes with their famous biscuit as well. It comes with a small pack of strawberry jam.
May the tasting begin! I am not a big fan of breast meat but I like thie breast meat. It is crispy on the outside but soft and juicy on the inside. It is not dry at all. The flour covering the chicken is not very thick and it got a hint of herbs being used as well. Taste great! Definitely beats KFC hands down. The thing is both of us could not taste the different between mild and spicy version. Hmm…. Or we got both the same version. Their fries are good enough of their own. It is crispy on the outside but soft and moist on the inside. Seems like they seasoned it with herbs as well. Good! Their coleslaw tasted like the coleslaw that KFC used to produce in the 80s. It is good with big chucks of cabbage and enough mayo to taste. Finally the famous biscuit, it is hard on the outside but soft and fluffy inside. On its own, it tastes like a butter biscuit, but do find it a bit dry and hard to sallow. Together with the strawberry jam, it tastes better.
Overall, I think the fried chicken rocks here but hope that they do open other outlets soon! Hopefully in town! Then now I am officially a Popeyes Fried Chicken Fan!
Rating given:
This little stall is well hidden in a café of Yio Chu Kang Road. Frankly speaking, if I don’t work nearby the café, I would have never found out about this stall. The café is along the side with a few coffee shops but it is almost packed to brim when it comes to lunch time.
The café is a very small and humble set up. Simple tables with white chairs and with a TV showing some lunch time show. The café is air conditioned and got outdoor seats for the smokers as well. There are only 3 stalls, one selling drinks, one selling noodles and the last one selling roast meat. So this review shall focus on the stall selling roast duck: Sally Roast Meat Rice.
The stall is managed by 2 sisters and of course the name Sally belongs to the elder sister if I am not wrong. It seems that they had been around doing this for sometime. Their stall also got paste a number of newspapers cutting and even got on a TV show before. They got all the nice logos on display. During lunch, most of the people will buy from their stall so prepared to join a long queue. For good food, it is totally worth to queue. They are very friendly as well, if you ask nicely to them for a little more rice, they will give it to you with no extra charge.
Since they are selling roast meat, of course they sell all kinds of roast meat, from duck, to meat and even BBQ chicken wings. On their stall front, just before lunch, they always display all the wonderful, shiny, meat.
Let me start off with their roast duck, their ducks are consider rather big in size. Their ducks are roasted until they have very nice and crispy looking skin. They have an even dark red color throughout the duck. The meat is juicy and soft, not tough at all. The skin is crispy and not oily. Other ducks tend to have a lot of fats but their ducks seem to have very little of it. Therefore when eating the duck, you dun have to chew off the fats first. A plate of duck rice comes with a large portion of nicely chopped duck meat and it only cost $3. It is a must try.
Their Char Siew is also another star on its own. Their char siew is roasted until dark red brown color with a shiny finishing and a bit of chao da bits at its corner. The meat they chose are lean so dun have much fats inside. They cut into slightly thick slices when serves. I like the taste where it is not too sweet and at the same time meat is soft and juicy. Unlike those that are sold in the market where their char siew are bright red in color and taste super sweet one.
Roast meat is something that I usually try not to eat but their roast meat has a thick crispy skin, together with the fat layer and the meat makes a wonderful combination. Got me totally hooked onto their roast meat.
BBQ Chicken Wing, this one alone is worth 5 stars already. Their BBQ chicken wing is like their char siew, dark red brown color with a shiny finishing and a bit of chao da bits. I think they used the same seasoning for both. It is also not too sweet and the meat is soft and juicy, not dry at all.
My usual order would be duck rice char siew 1 chicken wing, and the cost is only $4.70 and it comes with a very big size of rice. Sometimes to give myself a treat, I will buy a duck drumstick. Yum Yum! Something to mention here, every order comes with a free soup. Their free soup is made from all the leftover bones of the roasted duck and a type of preserved spicy vegetable. So to say there is extra meat in the soup. Free of charge some more!
Recently they started to sell sliced fish soup also but sad to say they should just stick to selling of the roasted meat can alr. Their sliced fish soup, although comes with a generous serving of sliced fish, but the soup base is tasteless with a very peppery taste. Not tasty at all.
So you keen to give it a try? Give me a call then I can bring you there for lunch!
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1/2 Price Tuesday! So 1/2 the menu and service too?
Felt like having waffles yesterday so I met my girlfriend for dinner at Gelare. The last time I went, the mushroom cream pasta was pretty shiok. But yesterday our experience was in fact, very bad.
This outlet at Hougang Mall is pretty small and getting a table for 4 wasn't easy. After 20mins of waiting outside, finally we got our table. They've now improved on their menu and there were many choices that looks quite good. Since we were there for the waffles and pasta, we didn't get distracted. We wrote our orders on the order sheet provided at every table and went to the cashier to place our order.
While waiting in the queue, I realised that the ice cream choice we wanted wasn't available. And thus I tried to remember whatever that's there and walked back to the table to check with my friends. By then, I've already forgotten 80% of the choices available. Had to walk all the way back to check again and then back to the table to change our orders. Statisfied with our choice of ice cream for our waffles, we got back to the queue and when its our turn, the cashier told us that they had run out of mushroom cream pasta!!! (They could have indicated somewhere or inform us when they cleared the table right?) My friend had to walk back to our table and check what we want to change our pasta to, and then we changed our order AGAIN and joined the queue AGAIN!
We ended walking back and forth for about 5 times before we placed our orders with the cashier!
Our pasta was served first and one look at it I lost my appetite. We ordered tomato seafood pasta, the pasta looked pathetic with the little amount of sauce that only managed to cover 1/3 of the pasta for mine and 1/2 of the pasta for my friends'. We were too hungry to complain and so we just went ahead with what was given.
After our pasta, we stayed to chat while waiting for the waffles which was finally served after more than 30 mins! We did indicate to serve our waffles later, aka after we're done with our pasta, but not till that late.
Very disappointed about yesterday's experience. Guess I'll just forget about the pasta and just go for their waffles the next time.
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I had a chance to take a ride on the Singapore Flyer before it was officially opened to public. I was very very excited and was looking forward to the flight. I was there at night and as it was not open to public yet, there wasn't much people there. The flyer was lighted in blue neon color at night and gives a very dreamy feeling at night.
Everyone has to pass through a security check, like at the customs, before entering the boarding area. To get to the flyer itself takes abit of walking and couple of escalator. And before stepping onto the boarding platform, everyone will enter into a mock up of the capsule where photos will be taken. ($15 for the first photo, $10 for subsequent copies.) This photo is supposed to be superimposed into the back drop and show as if we took it while riding on the Singapore Flyer. You can buy the photo after the flight with the magnetic tag passed to you at the mock up photo taking area.
Finally we saw the capsule! Boarding the capsule can be rather tricky. It continues to move as everyone rushed up to get into the capsule before the boarding period passes. I wonder if they carter for handicaps entrance. Probably they'll have to stop the moving flyer for such boardings. The capsule was not as big as I’d imagined. 24 of us standing around the capsule already seemed rather packed and it was rather warm inside the capsule. Can't imagine hot hot it might be in the day when the sun is above.
The view from the top of the capsule was magnificent. You get to see the beautiful skyline from high above. It's recommended that you move around the capsule and enjoy the entire 360-degree view. If you are planning to take photos, its advisable to bring a tripod and set it up before you're 1/4 way up the flight. The glass used isn't suitable for photo taking with flash. So you'll have to have very steady hands or use flash and missed out the beautiful backdrop in the background of your photo.
I'll probably return for another flight when the construction of Marina Bay is complete. Now only one side has got good view.
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The first impression I got when I stepped into the cafe is the use of bright colors and 2 huge Jalapeno plushie on display at the capsule display near the entrance. There's a row of booth seats thats great for big group gatherings. Very cosy place to chill out and enjoy the night with friends.
As I was there for an event, I didn't get to take a look at their menu. Everyone was served a sampler plate with fried calamari, wedges, soft burrito and some jalapeno-liked thing with stuffings. I like the fried calamari as it was tasty and crispy. Would surely order this if I go back again. And the jalapeno was as flavorful, not sure wat's inside the stuffing thou as I was too hungry to slowly taste and analyzes them.
Perhaps Yebbers can arrange a gathering there? Hmm...
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