Heard that this place serves weekend ala carte brunch buffet but we are not able to make reservations as it seem to be fully booked most of the times.
We managed to secure a table on a weekday dinner and surprisingly there were only a few diners. When we flipped through the menu, we have difficulty in deciding what to order as the menu do not classify under general headings like meat, vegetables, soups, etc. But credit must be given to them for their brief description of each dish so that diners will know what they are expecting.
We only ordered two dishes :
a. Homemade Tofu ( Beancurd ) with Scallops & Bacon ( $28 )
The pan-fried tofu has soft silky texture and were well soaked in the sweet and sour spicy sauce. Big pieces of cut scallops and few strips of bacon enhanced the unique flavour of this dish.
b. Stirred Fried Beef Cubes with Mushrooms ( $37 )
Though the name sounded ordinary, we decide to try as most beef are either fried in garlic, black pepper sauce or spicy ( sambal ) sauce. We were very impressed when we took the first bite of the chunky beef cubes. Each cube was well cooked on the outside but juicy inside. As the beef seem to be sprinkled with salt and pepper only, we get to taste the freshness as we chewed happily. The mushrooms played a complimentary role as the smooth and crunchy taste of it goes well with the rice.
We thoroughly enjoyed the food and the alfresco dining ambience coupled with nearby Marina Sands displaying their colourful laser lights shows
This place is known for its traditional food like popiah, steamed yam and pumpkin cakes, noodles stir fried in XO sauce or with seafood.
Highly recommended is the steamed yam cake. Each forkful of it just melt in your mouth. The texture was very smooth and did not compromise on the yam flavour. We have tried other places serving this common item but unfortunately, it is either too much flour being added to the mixture until it looses the yam flavour or too soft that the minute you try cutting it, the whole piece just fell into loosen bits.
The other item worth mentioning is the popiah ( spring roll wrapped in turnips, bean sprouts, etc )
The roll was cut into four bite-sized pieces. Each piece was tightly rolled with generous amount of fillings. Indeed, it was a home-made taste that makes one linger of our childhood luxury..
This place also serve common traditional herbal teas like red bamboo leaf with sugar cane, chrysanthemum, etc. We were surprised that the hot drinks do not have any strong herbal taste and it was also not that sweet but good enough to wash down all the other fried stuff that we have ordered for the day.
We were planning for a short weekend trip to Jakarta and came across Fave Hotel as one of the many value-for-money boutique hotels that have sprung up in recent years. This relatively new hotel has earned good reviews from tourists that had patronized it before.
Although it took us ( and the taxi driver ) some time to find it, we were compensated by the friendliness of the staff who greeted us humbly with big smiles.
The reception is a simplified counter manned by two staff and facing directly opposite is a small café serving local food like nasi goreng (fried rice), ayam bakar (grilled chicken), etc.
We tried their promotional item – nasi ayam bakar which means rendang chicken and rice wrapped in banana leaf and then grilled using slow charcoal. We were quite skeptical when the dish was brought to our table but upon tearing the burnt leaf, the aromatic smell of the rendang curry was good enough for us to confirm that we have made the right choice.
Each room comes with flat LCD TV and is decorated with different flower motif. Although small, the rooms are very clean. Free Wi-Fi internet connection can also be found in all rooms, café and lobby areas. We are quite particular about firmness of the bed and pillows and were happy that these two important items have made our stay memorable.
Because it is a budget hotel, food is served only up to 10pm both at the café and for room service. Fortunately, there is a 24-hour mini mart just next door that caters hot/cold drinks, sandwiches and snacks. There is also a shopping centre within walking distance from the hotel. Starbucks, McDonalds, KFC, etc can be found around this shopping belt.
We were introduced to this old traditional Teochew restaurant by some friends. We had a hard time locating the place because it is situated between rows of landed houses. By now, there were different “music” made by our stomachs. Alas, we found it at one tiny corner of shop houses.
We were greeted by a friendly staff and as we sat down to decide what to order, we realized that almost 90% of the diners were old-time customers who walked in leisurely and started to order their favourite dishes without even looking at the menu.
We then decide to ask the elderly lady boss for her recommendation. She was very considerate by asking us whether we prefer spicy, fried, steam or soupy stuff since she noticed that two of our friends are not feeling well. For a group of 7, she recommended 6 items and 1 dessert. She even suggested the food to be served in smallest portion so that we can taste and enjoy each dish.
Steamed fish tail – very smooth flesh and no fishy smell. The fish was steamed with very light gravy which will not make it taste too salty.
Fried Prawns Rolls – lots of prawns bits and fragrant with crunchy meat mixture
Fried Sambal Tapicoa Leaves – not so spicy ( because of unwell friends ) but with generous dried prawns and fried to perfect taste. Not so soggy, oily or dried.
Fried Beancurd – This item was exceptionally smooth in texture and goes well with the sour plum sauce.
Chillie Crayfish – The fleshly crayfish were very tender and can be easily removed from their shell. The gravy was just delicious when mix with the white rice.
Braised Meat with Buns – Chef’s recommendation. The meat were very soft and tender ( though a bit fatty ) but we mananged to remove the fats easily with our chopsticks. Wrapped into the steamed hot bun, it was a perfect match with extra gravy oozing out with each bite.
Yam Paste with Gingko nuts – Surprisingly it was not so sweet with bits of fresh yam in the paste. We prefer this coarsely bits as compared to the usual smooth paste because we can bite and taste each spoonful of yam.
When we paid the bill ( about $100 ), we were all full with satisfaction and no regrets. Even our unwell friends ate almost everything…
Out of curiosity, we took a walk on each floor of the Singapore Flyer and was saddened by the emptiness of each food outlet. Other than Popeye’s restaurant which enjoyed relatively good business, employees of the other eateries were either standing outside their main entrances or busy whispering among themselves inside their own confined corners.
We decided to “ contribute” some revenue when we passed by this restaurant. They were offering a la carte dinner in buffet style. Per person $26.90 which we thought was value-for-money promotion. Unfortunately, we were unsure whether it was open since nobody greeted us when we stood outside for more than 10mins. We only saw one staff doing some paperwork at one of the front tables.
When we walked in, this same lady got up and showed us to the inner dining section. We then realized that only two other tables were occupied. The place was nicely decorated and one small room was dedicated to those who enjoyed sake.
We were surprised that although their half-page laminated menu looked quite unprofessional, the food was served in a no-fuss but excellent flavor. We ordered the usual sashimi salmon, california maki, agedashi tofu, tempura prawns, teppanyaki beef/prawns and yakitori chicken. We were again surprised when we saw the chef stepping onto a counter and started frying. We have expected our order to be processed at back kitchen given such a promo price. Overall, the food were above average and we ordered another 2 rounds of sashimi salmon, teppanyaki beef, prawns and garlic rice together with 3 rounds of grilled shitake mushrooms.
But we were disappointed with their pomelo jelly cubes served in a cold cup. This one and only very sweet dessert does not compliment the overall fried, oily, grilled and salty food that we have consumed earlier. Unlike other Japanese outlets, green tea was never served as part of the buffet and we ended up paying additional $5/- per person for free flow of brown tea which tasted like warm water to us.
Overall, food was alright at such a price but service was below average as the staff either cannot communicate in proper English or could not explain in details when we enquired about other style of cooking the food.
1=SGD 0.0587
We managed to secure a table on a weekday dinner and surprisingly there were only a few diners. When we flipped through the menu, we have difficulty in deciding what to order as the menu do not classify under general headings like meat, vegetables, soups, etc. But credit must be given to them for their brief description of each dish so that diners will know what they are expecting.
We only ordered two dishes :
a. Homemade Tofu ( Beancurd ) with Scallops & Bacon ( $28 )
The pan-fried tofu has soft silky texture and were well soaked in the sweet and sour spicy sauce. Big pieces of cut scallops and few strips of bacon enhanced the unique flavour of this dish.
b. Stirred Fried Beef Cubes with Mushrooms ( $37 )
Though the name sounded ordinary, we decide to try as most beef are either fried in garlic, black pepper sauce or spicy ( sambal ) sauce. We were very impressed when we took the first bite of the chunky beef cubes. Each cube was well cooked on the outside but juicy inside. As the beef seem to be sprinkled with salt and pepper only, we get to taste the freshness as we chewed happily. The mushrooms played a complimentary role as the smooth and crunchy taste of it goes well with the rice.
We thoroughly enjoyed the food and the alfresco dining ambience coupled with nearby Marina Sands displaying their colourful laser lights shows
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
Highly recommended is the steamed yam cake. Each forkful of it just melt in your mouth. The texture was very smooth and did not compromise on the yam flavour. We have tried other places serving this common item but unfortunately, it is either too much flour being added to the mixture until it looses the yam flavour or too soft that the minute you try cutting it, the whole piece just fell into loosen bits.
The other item worth mentioning is the popiah ( spring roll wrapped in turnips, bean sprouts, etc )
The roll was cut into four bite-sized pieces. Each piece was tightly rolled with generous amount of fillings. Indeed, it was a home-made taste that makes one linger of our childhood luxury..
This place also serve common traditional herbal teas like red bamboo leaf with sugar cane, chrysanthemum, etc. We were surprised that the hot drinks do not have any strong herbal taste and it was also not that sweet but good enough to wash down all the other fried stuff that we have ordered for the day.
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
Although it took us ( and the taxi driver ) some time to find it, we were compensated by the friendliness of the staff who greeted us humbly with big smiles.
The reception is a simplified counter manned by two staff and facing directly opposite is a small café serving local food like nasi goreng (fried rice), ayam bakar (grilled chicken), etc.
We tried their promotional item – nasi ayam bakar which means rendang chicken and rice wrapped in banana leaf and then grilled using slow charcoal. We were quite skeptical when the dish was brought to our table but upon tearing the burnt leaf, the aromatic smell of the rendang curry was good enough for us to confirm that we have made the right choice.
Each room comes with flat LCD TV and is decorated with different flower motif. Although small, the rooms are very clean. Free Wi-Fi internet connection can also be found in all rooms, café and lobby areas. We are quite particular about firmness of the bed and pillows and were happy that these two important items have made our stay memorable.
Because it is a budget hotel, food is served only up to 10pm both at the café and for room service. Fortunately, there is a 24-hour mini mart just next door that caters hot/cold drinks, sandwiches and snacks. There is also a shopping centre within walking distance from the hotel. Starbucks, McDonalds, KFC, etc can be found around this shopping belt.
Promotional room rate : RP$398,000 nett ( S$58.00 ) – include breakfast
Delicious Nasi Ayam Bakar : RP$18,400 ( S$2.70 )
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
We were greeted by a friendly staff and as we sat down to decide what to order, we realized that almost 90% of the diners were old-time customers who walked in leisurely and started to order their favourite dishes without even looking at the menu.
We then decide to ask the elderly lady boss for her recommendation. She was very considerate by asking us whether we prefer spicy, fried, steam or soupy stuff since she noticed that two of our friends are not feeling well. For a group of 7, she recommended 6 items and 1 dessert. She even suggested the food to be served in smallest portion so that we can taste and enjoy each dish.
Steamed fish tail – very smooth flesh and no fishy smell. The fish was steamed with very light gravy which will not make it taste too salty.
Fried Prawns Rolls – lots of prawns bits and fragrant with crunchy meat mixture
Fried Sambal Tapicoa Leaves – not so spicy ( because of unwell friends ) but with generous dried prawns and fried to perfect taste. Not so soggy, oily or dried.
Fried Beancurd – This item was exceptionally smooth in texture and goes well with the sour plum sauce.
Chillie Crayfish – The fleshly crayfish were very tender and can be easily removed from their shell. The gravy was just delicious when mix with the white rice.
Braised Meat with Buns – Chef’s recommendation. The meat were very soft and tender ( though a bit fatty ) but we mananged to remove the fats easily with our chopsticks. Wrapped into the steamed hot bun, it was a perfect match with extra gravy oozing out with each bite.
Yam Paste with Gingko nuts – Surprisingly it was not so sweet with bits of fresh yam in the paste. We prefer this coarsely bits as compared to the usual smooth paste because we can bite and taste each spoonful of yam.
When we paid the bill ( about $100 ), we were all full with satisfaction and no regrets. Even our unwell friends ate almost everything…
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
We decided to “ contribute” some revenue when we passed by this restaurant. They were offering a la carte dinner in buffet style. Per person $26.90 which we thought was value-for-money promotion. Unfortunately, we were unsure whether it was open since nobody greeted us when we stood outside for more than 10mins. We only saw one staff doing some paperwork at one of the front tables.
When we walked in, this same lady got up and showed us to the inner dining section. We then realized that only two other tables were occupied. The place was nicely decorated and one small room was dedicated to those who enjoyed sake.
We were surprised that although their half-page laminated menu looked quite unprofessional, the food was served in a no-fuss but excellent flavor. We ordered the usual sashimi salmon, california maki, agedashi tofu, tempura prawns, teppanyaki beef/prawns and yakitori chicken. We were again surprised when we saw the chef stepping onto a counter and started frying. We have expected our order to be processed at back kitchen given such a promo price. Overall, the food were above average and we ordered another 2 rounds of sashimi salmon, teppanyaki beef, prawns and garlic rice together with 3 rounds of grilled shitake mushrooms.
But we were disappointed with their pomelo jelly cubes served in a cold cup. This one and only very sweet dessert does not compliment the overall fried, oily, grilled and salty food that we have consumed earlier. Unlike other Japanese outlets, green tea was never served as part of the buffet and we ended up paying additional $5/- per person for free flow of brown tea which tasted like warm water to us.
Overall, food was alright at such a price but service was below average as the staff either cannot communicate in proper English or could not explain in details when we enquired about other style of cooking the food.
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!