On my family's previous dinner trip to My Mum's Place, we had spotted a few stalls beside it which we had meant to try. One such stall was Lau Hock Guan Kee Bak Kut Teh, which I was told, sold decent Bak Kut Teh. As with Tasty Penang just 2 doors down, Lau Hock Guan Kee is rather old school, opting for fans in favour of air conditioners. Read, it can get quite stuffy and warm if you choose to sit inside. Manned by a few old ladies, Lau Hock Guan Kee doesn't offer a menu unless you specifically request for it. The old ladies rattle off whatever's available and are very warm and hospitable, although in a rather loud sense. We had the Fried Baby Kailan with Oyster Sauce, Beancurd with Minced Meat and Bak Kut Teh.
The Fried Baby Kailan with Oyster Sauce was a little too "sweet" for me due to the excessive oyster sauce. The generous serving of fried shallots atop was a bonus and added flavour to the dish. Beancurd with Minced Meat might seem like an easy dish to prepare. Just get good beancurd, throw some minced meat and garnishes in and you are done. Even a novice cook like myself can easily whip up Beancurd with Minced Meat, but doing it well is an art by itself. Lau Hock Guan Kee's version exceeded expectations. What looked like a pathetic excuse for the dish turned out to have soft and silky tofu (similar to the Agedashi Tofu in Japanese eateries) and a tantalising gravy owing to the hearty mix of minced meat, carrots, spring onions, mushrooms and other garnishes. But then again, it would have been better if the cook had gone a little easier on the salt.
I'm sure everyone has eaten quite a bit of Bak Kut Teh in their lives and I'm no exception. The 2 most popular versions of Bak Kut Teh are the Teochew version, which has a clear and peppery soup and the Hokkien version, which has a dark and herbal soup. Lau Hock Guan Kee's rendition belonged to neither group. It's soup was slightly darkish and had seaweed and vegetables in it. It had no Bak Kut taste but tasted strongly of the seaweed. Rather weird, but still very decent in my opinion. The Bak Kut itself was nice though. The meat was tender and we had no difficulty tearing the meat off the bones. If they can do something about the soup, I'm sure this will be a smashing Bak Kut Teh.
Dinner for 3 pax with drinks cost a mere $30/-. For the huge portions (all of our dishes can feed 4 pax), this is definitely a steal. We had actually wanted to try their fish head and Fish Stomach with Bittergourd, but were too stuffed to even harbour such thoughts at the end of our meal. As such, I'll definitely be back to pick up from where we left off.
Absolute Haven pride itself in serving Modern European Cuisine. Barely one years old, the restaurant has attracted numerous food-lovers and had rave reviews about the place. Thus its no wonder LIC must make a visit to Absolute Haven for a dinner.
Located at Prinsep street, the area has seen the entry of many new restaurants and has become a dining spot positioned within walking distance to Orchard. Absolute Haven is probably the crown among the many restaurants there, with the others not really being competitiors to it, but as complements which help to build Prinsep street as a place to dine.
Entering through the gates of Absolute Haven, there is the alfresco dining area where you can chill out with your friends. Otherwise, if you are on a romantic date and do not want to be seen sweating while enjoying your meal, step inside, to the cozy and chic environment of Absolute Haven.
When my friend and i reached the place at 7pm, the place was not full yet, but the crowd starts to come in subsequently. Being brought to our seats, we browse through the menu and placed our orders.
Mushroom Soup ($5.80) A very mushroom mushroom soup, made from portobello mushrooms, shitake mushrooms, and button mushroom. The rendition here is quite similar to the ones I had at Friends @ Jelita, except this one comes up stronger in the "mushroom taste"
Soup of the day ($5.80) We begin our delightful meal with the soup of the day. I'm not really a soup person while dining out so my view may not paint an accurate picture.
Oriental Cod-Fish ($24.0) Steamed cod-fish done in oriental style topped with wolfberries, shitake mushrooms and bacon, served on a bed of asparagus.
This is truly an fusion where East meet West. You will never expect a dish like Oriental steamed cod fish to appear in a modish European restaurant like Absolute Haven.
Wolfberries as a ingredient, are by far rarely found in European restaurant, it further emphasized the oriental-ness of the dish. The use of bacon added flavoring which enhance the taste of the fish.
It does seems slightly weird to have a oriental steamed cod fish as a main course as usually it is more common to find it in Chinese restaurants. Nevertheless we enjoyed the unique experience, there's always a first for everything.But from what we gathered from Phyllis (Absolute's Manager), some customers find it to be too fishy, and the fish will be taken off the new menu which will commerce on 9th April.
Chef's Special Norwergian Salmon ($32) Herb oil confit Norwergian Salmon drizzled with Vanilla cream sauce, walnut & black olive pilaf rice, accompanied with organic butternut pumpkin braised in Earl grey tea.
The food at Absolute Haven are all presented very well, the chef really does put in effort in making the dishes look nice. After all, a good appearance of the food does makes it taste better. Applause to the chefs for their hard work!
Having try quite a few Salmons recently, the version here is slightly different to the ones i had before which are mostly grilled or pan-fried. The herb oil confit salmon is a nice change, and i dutifully finish every bit of it.
The walnut & black olive pilaf rice is good, without a doubt. The organic butternut pumpkin braised in Earl grey tea isn't really to my liking, but i do appreciated the effort put into making this side dish.
Tira Mi Su ($9) A classical Italian dessert served with espresso coffee and liqueur in light mascarpone cheese mousse. The Tira Mi Su here simply melts in my mouth, the liqueur was not too strong which does well for me. The slight hint of cheese in the mousse also provides a variation from the normal Tiramisu.
The thought of the Tira Mi Su dissolving at the tip of my tongue is enough to make me visit Absolute Haven again.
Passion Fruit Panna Cotta ($9) This dessert wasn't on the menu when we visited Absolute Haven on the 22th March. There was another choice, lavender Panna Cotta, which offers a sweet version instead of the slightly more sour flavor of the passion fruit panna cotta. My friend preferred sour to sweet, so we got the Passion Fruit.
Total Bill came up to around $100.15 for two person. I got two Absolute Haven vouchers (entitled to two free soup and main course). But do not let this fact spoils the review. I deliberately left this fact for the end so that my share-readers can read through this review without any hint of biasness. Absolute Haven is excellent, and i'm not saying this because i got a free meal.
We paid $13.30 for this excellent dinner for the Tiramisu, the Panna Cotta was on the house, courtesy of Phyllis. Absolute Haven promise romantic fine-dining at an affordable price, without burning a hole in your pocket, you can bring your dates there for special occasions. Even for normal events, it's a great place to chill out with your family and friends. The price of their mains ranges from $16 to $32, and desserts are valued at $9-$12.
The friendly manager, Phyllis came up and spoke to us about our meal halfway through. She is a real nice person. You could feel her earnest and sincerity while she was talking to us. There are few managers or bosses in the local food & beverage industry that come across to me as genuine as her. Do call her 9766 3798 or even drop her a sms (which i did) to make your reservations.
The service staff there are polite and quick to help out if we got any inquiries, and my friend note that most of them are good-looking. Anyway thats not the main point, the service at Absolute Haven is indeed what other new start-ups should learn from. Excellent services can never go wrong!
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 biasness. 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 : )
Dropped by Empire Cafe with my gf for dinner since we were in the vicinity, didn't fancy spending much on food and Empire Cafe looked pretty crowd free at that time.
Sitting right at the corner of Raffles Hotel, Empire Cafe plays home to a nostalgic interior styled to mimic a typical 1920s Singapore coffee house, with air conditioning of course. There's the booth seats, marble floors, granite table tops and wooden chairs, all reminiscent of an era long past and forgotten.
Crab Meat Fried Rice - For $18, the crab meat fried rice was terribly expensive considering its quality and portion size. True, the rice was throughly fried with a noticeable Wok Hei taste but it just wasn't tasty enough, coming across as a little on the bland side. The not too generous ingredients didn't help either. Portion size was just a little bigger than your $3/plate fried rice at the coffeeshop. The only consolation was probably the not too sizeable crab claw that came with the rice.
Bak Kut Teh - I really didn't know whether to cry or to laugh when I had a sip of the Bak Kut Teh soup. It was sweet from all the wolfberries that came with the soup. Maybe its just me, but I don't think Bak Kut Teh is supposed to be cooked with wolfberries, is it? At least the ones I've tried so far aren't. Soup aside, the meat was fibrous yet tender and quite a size to boot. All in all, I wouldn't say that this was a bad dish, just that it was different. For me, I didn't like it one bit.
Durian Chendol - What can I say? This dish was as common as it gets. Probably the only up side was the finely shaved ice, which then again can be found in many other places that sell this dish for half to a third of the price.
Can you fathom paying close to $63 for such a meal with 2 glasses of free flow lime juice? I honestly can't and the experience still seems rather surreal as I write this entry. So much for wanting to cut down on our expenditure for the evening. Strangely enough, the restaurant was almost full when we were done - a sign of growing affluence?
Those Dim Sum cravings just don't stop and its been bothering me for quite a while. With some luck, reprieve was in sight as my colleagues and I settled for Dim Sum at the relatively well known Teahouse near our office.
Housed on the third floor of China Square, Teahouse comes under the umbrella of the illustrious Tung Lok group, which is famous for its fine dining Chinese restaurants. Step into the restaurant and a quaint teahouse setting greets you. Decor is simplistic, with wooden tables and chairs and whirling ceiling fans. The sight of Dim Sum being pushed around in trolleys complete the typical teahouse atmosphere.
Tofu with Fish Paste - I found this dish very normal. The Tofu tasted like those you could buy at the markets and the fish paste just didn't taste wholesome enough. I could probably get one of comparable quality at half the price.
Char Siew Sou - I'm rather particular when it comes to Char Siew Sou because its probably one of my favourite Dim Sum dishes. Sad to say, this one didn't quite make the cut. Although the pastry was flaky, it wasn't crisp enough and the Char Siew filling was a little tasteless. No BBQ taste, not sweet, nothing. Edible, but certainly not worth the money.
Egg Tarts - Another one of my favourite dishes. But disappointment after disappointment. The Egg Tart was just short of terrible. The custard filling was hardly sweet and the pastry crumbled upon the slightest exertion of pressure. No slightly burnt taste that I like as well.
Deep Fried Prawn Dumpling - A good gauge as to whether this dish is well executed is to taste the skin. If its thin, crispy and doesn't carry a reused oil aftertaste, then its good. Of course the prawns must be fresh as well to complement the skin. Teahouse's rendition was a mixture of good and bad. The skin could have obviously done with more deep frying because it was a little chewy instead of crispy. The prawns however, were nice and crunchy, which indicates freshness?
Carrot Cake - If I were to call the carrot cake a joke, that would be an understatement. Its probably closer to disaster. The carrot cake was soft and mushy and reeked of oil. Not to mention it left a distasteful aftertaste. Pure gross. They should really take this off the menu. I'm not kidding
Chee Cheong Fun - We had a serving of Char Siew Chee Cheong Fun and Prawn Chee Cheong Fun. Both tasted rather normal, but I like the Char Siew one more due to personal biasness. Only problem with the Chee Cheong Fun is that the skin could have been thinner and silkier.
Har Gao - Fresh and crunchy prawns enveloped by an acceptably thin skin. What more can I say? Could use some heating up though as Dim Sum is best eaten warm or piping hot.
Char Siew Pao - The Char Siew Pao didn't come piping hot. In fact it came almost cold. And cold it remained, with my palate failing to warm up to it. I personally found the skin too thick and not soft enough. The filling was normal and I almost can't remember how it tastes like. I guess that pretty much says how I feel about the Pao.
An unsatisfying Dim Sum lunch (for me at least) for 3 pax cost about $45. Not exactly the most expensive of Dim Sum lunches, but it is hard to justify for the quality and quantity of food. Add in average service and you get a place where I won't be visiting again, at least not for Dim Sum. Wah Lok beckons.
Hungering for buffets? Want to show your friends from overseas what local cuisine tastes like? Well, look no further then Straits Kitchen. At one small(read: big) price, your friends will get to try everything they've ever wanted to try in Singaporean cuisine while enjoying a relaxed and comfortable ambiance within the confines of the Grant Hyatt.
Located on the first floor of the Grand Hyatt, Straits Kitchen is the restaurant encased in glass and partitioned with bottles, tea pots and soft lighting. Tables are of the wood variety as are the chairs in certain portions of the restaurant. The table we sat at comprised of wooden tables and chairs which look great until you realise how cramped and difficult it is to stand up and move around. Air conditioning in the restaurant is quite powerful while the music played ranges from classic malay, chinese and indian songs to suit the theme of the restaurant. An overall aesthetically pleasing presentation.
Being a buffet, counters are separated according to cuisine. There'll be separate counters for Malay food, Indian food, Chinese, Dessert and drinks. The range of items can be quite daunting and bascially, there are so many choices, your stomach will never be the same again. I'll just name the few i've come into contact with that day. These range from Laksa, Mee Soto, Fish Soup, Chicken and duck rice, Chili Crab, Mini Buddha Jump over the wall, Fried buns, Keropok, Fried carrot Cake, Prata, Prawns and Asparagus, Fried Kway Teow, Dory fish with Beancurd, Satay, Fried rice, Ayam Pengat, Rojak, Yam Paste, Durian Ice Cream and all manners of cakes and cookies to name a few. Even with an extensive list like this, i still may have missed out on quite a few items they had to offer. Needless to say, they have alot to offer.
Reviewing a buffet is never akin to reviewing actual fine dining establishments because first of all, its impossible to put much heart into food preparation when mass producing items and secondly, even if there were good items, the trouble with too much selection is that the customer might not get to try the better items. My colleagues mentioned that the food here was heavy as compared to carousal in Royal Scotts. They were right. With selections like fish soup noodles, fried rice, chicken rice, roti prata and laksa (that doesn't even finish covering the heavy items btw), its a killer to eat everything. In fact, eat 2 bowls of the above and you'll be stuffed enough to go home. The food is of a certain standard of course. The better items i had were the Mini Buddha jump over the wall which came with a scallop (boiled to death and very crumbly, no sweetness whatsoever) and a piece of abalone (which may or may not be actual abalone, i'm quite sure its either low quality or fake altogether). The broth itself should be double boiled which explains why its quite salty but overall, i'd say it was still passable. The carrot cake was pretty decent albeit being extremely oily. Pair it with some chili sauce and it'll do just fine. The prawns and asparagus were quite tasteless but the prawns themselves were big and crunchy, i'm disputing a little on the freshness because after 4 prawns, it started to feel generic and all of them strangely lacked any taste of sweetness in them. The satay was pretty good as the chicken (the only one i tried because all the other meats were quickly snapped up) was tender and the satay dip was authentic enough to be good. I had the yam paste for dessert which honestly wasn't too good. It was too sweet while the coconut milk portion too watery and lacking in taste to be even slightly decent. The best item i figured for that night? Probably the prawn crackers or the satay but thats just me.
I'd like to thank my boss again for the treat. She's really too kind and too generous. Wonderful boss i should say and i'm not even trying to flatter her. The experience was a good one although i can't say the same for the food offering but hey, its a buffet. A word of fairness is that it did not taste too bad actually, just that its not exactly grade A stuff. A good place to show overseas friends local food without braving the heat and oil of the real hawkers though. Straits kitchen is an interesting concept with decent grub. If only they could include the fresh juices as part of the buffet again to make it more attractive.
This is a long overdue post. It's been so long that I even got rid of the pictures I took at this place unknowingly.
I dropped by one weekday afternoon with two other friends for an early lunch and was pretty excited to try out the more upmarket version of Aston's Specialties.
I ordered the King Salmon Steak ($22.90) whilst my two friends had steak. You can get their opinion of the steaks above. I tried a couple of bites from their steak and wasn't impressed. They asked for their steaks to be done medium rare... but didn't get medium rare....
My Salmon turned out to be medium rare instead. One end was even uncooked. I've never tasted salmon so horribly done really. Somewhere in between the salmon was mushy and I couldn't tell whether it's because of the way it was done or that it wasn't fresh. I struggled to finish and in the end I couldn't bear to finish it anymore.
The only thing I really liked was the fries. They were the fat sort I liked and were lightly seasoned, making them tasty on their own without sauces. *yums*
The service was reasonable with the people talking to us before the cameras were whipped out. But when they did notice the cameras, I reckoned we got more attention than other patrons.
I seriously think I would really consder before going back again.
I'd never really been a fan of U.R.S but I was on a hunt for shoes that day and have exhausted all other options. So into this shop I went looking for the right shoes.
I was surprised to see the very similiar designs... almost identical to the ones I've seen in the other shops. They also have the designs I wanted in more acceptable colours like white brown and black. They also seem to have a larger range of working class shoes.
At first when I walked in, I was ignored by the staff nearest to the door. We looked at each other eye to eye and she turned away quickly. I had expected at least a smile or a "welcome" but was given none. I was tempted to walk out but knowing that I didn't have any other shops to go, I stayed a bit more.
Then I spotted them. The shoes I wanted in simple brown colour and they were on sale! I picked up the shoes and immediately a sweet young sales assistant appeared by my side. She offered to get the shoes in two different sizes as I wasn't sure what size I would wear. She also recommended some others which were similiar and I happily agreed to try.
After trying on about 7-9 pairs of shoes I finally bought three. The same lady served me throughout while serving some other customers. I found her to be very approachable, unlike her colleague. But later on when I was paying I found out that all of them were trainees. Apparently they are all studying and this is like attachment for them. So the other girl was very nervous which was why she turned away. I guess it's relatively forgivable then. The prices of the shoes are reasonable. An alternative to Charles and Keith I guess... despite U.R.S being around much longer than them.
The news is out - Chef Chan will be closing its doors for the last time on the 27th of May and the chef cum owner, chef Chan Chen Hei, will be moving on to do private dining. Hence it was imperative that my gf and I tried it out for the last time.
Located at Odeon Towers along North Bridge Road, Chef Chan the restaurant boasts exquisite food at nearer to earth prices, helmed by chef Chan who used to be the master chef of restaurants in quite a few 5 star hotels. The interior is rather unique, with one area dedicated solely to Chef Chan's personal collection of Chinese antiques and the other for dining purposes. The decor, rather haphazard in my opinion, boasts floor to ceiling windows, which offer a view of the sidewalks. But what that means is that people can peer in as well as the seats are just slightly elevated about ground level.
Chef Chan's Famous Crispy Roast Chicken - A perennial favourite and one of Chef Chan's signature dish, the chicken's skin was crackling crispy and the flesh was tender and juicy. It was quite good, but I found it lacking in flavours. A little herbs or spice and salt would do just well.
Pan Fried Bean Curd Rolls - Nicely done, but the filling of meat and prawns could have been cut down in order to go well and give the right amount of bite to complement the slightly crispy skin. In all honesty, the excess meat filling made me nauseous after a while. Oh and yes, the skin could have been crispier, just like the one I had at Royal China or Wah Lok.
Choy Sum Lightly Boiled - Nothing fantastic about this dish, plain normal and a little too salty if you ask me. The only nice touch to it was the addition of Ti Pou. Portions are generous for 2 pax, but hey its $18.
Gold Medal Fried Rice - With a name like Gold Medal Fried Rice, one would assume that it was top notch or something to that effect. Well it wasn't top notch, but pretty close. The rice had a strong Wok Hei taste and ingredients were aplenty. Interestingly, tomatoes were added in as well, giving the dish added colour and taste.
A button bursting lunch for 2 pax cost about $67 (after 25% discount), which is rather reasonable for the amount of dishes we had. But having said that, I don't see myself patronising again because the quality of food, though reasonably good, is really a far cry from the early days when it was situated at Toa Payoh Safra and pretty much a one man show.
After our dinner at Jian Dao Jian, we took a leisurely stroll to Tong Shui Café at Liang Seah Street. I had heard of its existence but this was the first time I had actually seen it. It was eye catching to say the least, with the walls painted in bright shades of red and green and traditional red Chinese lanterns hanging along the pathway. It gave a very traditional Chinese feeling, although the chandeliers inside did seem a little out of place. The eating area was small and cozy (though it might seem a little claustraphobic to some), with lots of decorations hanging from the walls. The ordering system at this eatery is similar to that of Hong Kong Café’s, in which you write your orders down on a slip of paper and pass it to the wait staff who will serve your order to you. As we were quite stuffed, we went for the Toast with Peanut Butter and Condensed Milk, Tofu with Meat Floss, Ice Cappuccino and Ice Milk Tea.
The Tofu with Meat Floss was a let down. I had expected a silkier tofu and more flavourful Meat Floss. The gravy was also too salty and oily for my liking. Toast with Peanut Butter and Condensed Milk might seem like a weird combination, but it tasted good. The Peanut Butter was smooth and creamy and the Condensed Milk added a certain sweetness to it. The toasted bread could have been crispier though.
The Ice Milk Tea and Ice Cappuccino were served in glasses that were reminiscent of honey containers and usually reserved for apple juice. I found them a little heavy on the sugar content.
All in all, a rather average experience at $15.53/-. Not too expensive and I might consider going back for supper or chit chat sessions. They close at 6am and are close to town, which makes it an even more attractive option.
Woke up bright and early on a Sunday morning for some Dim Sum with my gf. Had been wanting to do so ever since we had Dim Sum at Yan Palace some time back. This time we decided to visit one of the old names in Dim Sum - Red Star Restaurant at Chin Swee Road. Located on the top floor of a HDB flat, Red Star is one of the very few Dim Sum places that still serves Dim Sum in pushcarts, just like the old days. The interior in itself is reminiscent of the 80s. We got there at about 0830hrs and the place was more than half filled (It can easily seat about 200 pax).
It would be sheer madness if I were to review everything I ate, so I'll just list out what I find is good and what isn't. You might probably want to avoid the Xiao Long Bao because the skin was a little too starchy and the filling was too dry. The Chee Cheong Fun was a little too rough for my liking and could do with more filling. The Banana with Shrimp Roll was rather unique, with the sweetness of the banana complementing with the taste of shrimp. Other than that, the rest of the items were pretty normal.
The 2 of us paid almost $40/- for the meal, which is expensive by Red Star's standards, considering the last time we ate there, it only cost us about $30. They probably increased the price or something. However, having said that, they are still quite reasonable for the average quality of food that they provide. So if you are looking to relive the old days of the push cart or wish to have Dim Sum as early as 0730hrs, then this is the place for you. As for me I won't be rushing back to patronise anytime soon as I'm still reeling from the shock at my bill. Yan Palace does seem like a more viable option now.
1=SGD 0.0587
On my family's previous dinner trip to My Mum's Place, we had spotted a few stalls beside it which we had meant to try. One such stall was Lau Hock Guan Kee Bak Kut Teh, which I was told, sold decent Bak Kut Teh. As with Tasty Penang just 2 doors down, Lau Hock Guan Kee is rather old school, opting for fans in favour of air conditioners. Read, it can get quite stuffy and warm if you choose to sit inside. Manned by a few old ladies, Lau Hock Guan Kee doesn't offer a menu unless you specifically request for it. The old ladies rattle off whatever's available and are very warm and hospitable, although in a rather loud sense. We had the Fried Baby Kailan with Oyster Sauce, Beancurd with Minced Meat and Bak Kut Teh.
The Fried Baby Kailan with Oyster Sauce was a little too "sweet" for me due to the excessive oyster sauce. The generous serving of fried shallots atop was a bonus and added flavour to the dish. Beancurd with Minced Meat might seem like an easy dish to prepare. Just get good beancurd, throw some minced meat and garnishes in and you are done. Even a novice cook like myself can easily whip up Beancurd with Minced Meat, but doing it well is an art by itself. Lau Hock Guan Kee's version exceeded expectations. What looked like a pathetic excuse for the dish turned out to have soft and silky tofu (similar to the Agedashi Tofu in Japanese eateries) and a tantalising gravy owing to the hearty mix of minced meat, carrots, spring onions, mushrooms and other garnishes. But then again, it would have been better if the cook had gone a little easier on the salt.
I'm sure everyone has eaten quite a bit of Bak Kut Teh in their lives and I'm no exception. The 2 most popular versions of Bak Kut Teh are the Teochew version, which has a clear and peppery soup and the Hokkien version, which has a dark and herbal soup. Lau Hock Guan Kee's rendition belonged to neither group. It's soup was slightly darkish and had seaweed and vegetables in it. It had no Bak Kut taste but tasted strongly of the seaweed. Rather weird, but still very decent in my opinion. The Bak Kut itself was nice though. The meat was tender and we had no difficulty tearing the meat off the bones. If they can do something about the soup, I'm sure this will be a smashing Bak Kut Teh.
Dinner for 3 pax with drinks cost a mere $30/-. For the huge portions (all of our dishes can feed 4 pax), this is definitely a steal. We had actually wanted to try their fish head and Fish Stomach with Bittergourd, but were too stuffed to even harbour such thoughts at the end of our meal. As such, I'll definitely be back to pick up from where we left off.
Rating given:
Absolute Haven pride itself in serving Modern European Cuisine. Barely one years old, the restaurant has attracted numerous food-lovers and had rave reviews about the place. Thus its no wonder LIC must make a visit to Absolute Haven for a dinner.
Located at Prinsep street, the area has seen the entry of many new restaurants and has become a dining spot positioned within walking distance to Orchard. Absolute Haven is probably the crown among the many restaurants there, with the others not really being competitiors to it, but as complements which help to build Prinsep street as a place to dine.
Entering through the gates of Absolute Haven, there is the alfresco dining area where you can chill out with your friends. Otherwise, if you are on a romantic date and do not want to be seen sweating while enjoying your meal, step inside, to the cozy and chic environment of Absolute Haven.
When my friend and i reached the place at 7pm, the place was not full yet, but the crowd starts to come in subsequently. Being brought to our seats, we browse through the menu and placed our orders.
Mushroom Soup ($5.80)
A very mushroom mushroom soup, made from portobello mushrooms, shitake mushrooms, and button mushroom. The rendition here is quite similar to the ones I had at Friends @ Jelita, except this one comes up stronger in the "mushroom taste"
Soup of the day ($5.80)
We begin our delightful meal with the soup of the day. I'm not really a soup person while dining out so my view may not paint an accurate picture.
Oriental Cod-Fish ($24.0)
Steamed cod-fish done in oriental style topped with wolfberries, shitake mushrooms and bacon, served on a bed of asparagus.
This is truly an fusion where East meet West. You will never expect a dish like Oriental steamed cod fish to appear in a modish European restaurant like Absolute Haven.
Wolfberries as a ingredient, are by far rarely found in European restaurant, it further emphasized the oriental-ness of the dish. The use of bacon added flavoring which enhance the taste of the fish.
It does seems slightly weird to have a oriental steamed cod fish as a main course as usually it is more common to find it in Chinese restaurants. Nevertheless we enjoyed the unique experience, there's always a first for everything.But from what we gathered from Phyllis (Absolute's Manager), some customers find it to be too fishy, and the fish will be taken off the new menu which will commerce on 9th April.
Chef's Special Norwergian Salmon ($32)
Herb oil confit Norwergian Salmon drizzled with Vanilla cream sauce, walnut & black olive pilaf rice, accompanied with organic butternut pumpkin braised in Earl grey tea.
The food at Absolute Haven are all presented very well, the chef really does put in effort in making the dishes look nice. After all, a good appearance of the food does makes it taste better. Applause to the chefs for their hard work!
Having try quite a few Salmons recently, the version here is slightly different to the ones i had before which are mostly grilled or pan-fried. The herb oil confit salmon is a nice change, and i dutifully finish every bit of it.
The walnut & black olive pilaf rice is good, without a doubt. The organic butternut pumpkin braised in Earl grey tea isn't really to my liking, but i do appreciated the effort put into making this side dish.
Tira Mi Su ($9)
A classical Italian dessert served with espresso coffee and liqueur in light mascarpone cheese mousse. The Tira Mi Su here simply melts in my mouth, the liqueur was not too strong which does well for me. The slight hint of cheese in the mousse also provides a variation from the normal Tiramisu.
The thought of the Tira Mi Su dissolving at the tip of my tongue is enough to make me visit Absolute Haven again.
Passion Fruit Panna Cotta ($9)
This dessert wasn't on the menu when we visited Absolute Haven on the 22th March. There was another choice, lavender Panna Cotta, which offers a sweet version instead of the slightly more sour flavor of the passion fruit panna cotta. My friend preferred sour to sweet, so we got the Passion Fruit.
Total Bill came up to around $100.15 for two person. I got two Absolute Haven vouchers (entitled to two free soup and main course). But do not let this fact spoils the review. I deliberately left this fact for the end so that my share-readers can read through this review without any hint of biasness. Absolute Haven is excellent, and i'm not saying this because i got a free meal.
We paid $13.30 for this excellent dinner for the Tiramisu, the Panna Cotta was on the house, courtesy of Phyllis. Absolute Haven promise romantic fine-dining at an affordable price, without burning a hole in your pocket, you can bring your dates there for special occasions. Even for normal events, it's a great place to chill out with your family and friends. The price of their mains ranges from $16 to $32, and desserts are valued at $9-$12.
The friendly manager, Phyllis came up and spoke to us about our meal halfway through. She is a real nice person. You could feel her earnest and sincerity while she was talking to us. There are few managers or bosses in the local food & beverage industry that come across to me as genuine as her. Do call her 9766 3798 or even drop her a sms (which i did) to make your reservations.
The service staff there are polite and quick to help out if we got any inquiries, and my friend note that most of them are good-looking. Anyway thats not the main point, the service at Absolute Haven is indeed what other new start-ups should learn from. Excellent services can never go wrong!
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 biasness. 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 : )
" Romantic Fine Dining at an affordable price "
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Dropped by Empire Cafe with my gf for dinner since we were in the vicinity, didn't fancy spending much on food and Empire Cafe looked pretty crowd free at that time.
Sitting right at the corner of Raffles Hotel, Empire Cafe plays home to a nostalgic interior styled to mimic a typical 1920s Singapore coffee house, with air conditioning of course. There's the booth seats, marble floors, granite table tops and wooden chairs, all reminiscent of an era long past and forgotten.
Crab Meat Fried Rice - For $18, the crab meat fried rice was terribly expensive considering its quality and portion size. True, the rice was throughly fried with a noticeable Wok Hei taste but it just wasn't tasty enough, coming across as a little on the bland side. The not too generous ingredients didn't help either. Portion size was just a little bigger than your $3/plate fried rice at the coffeeshop. The only consolation was probably the not too sizeable crab claw that came with the rice.
Bak Kut Teh - I really didn't know whether to cry or to laugh when I had a sip of the Bak Kut Teh soup. It was sweet from all the wolfberries that came with the soup. Maybe its just me, but I don't think Bak Kut Teh is supposed to be cooked with wolfberries, is it? At least the ones I've tried so far aren't. Soup aside, the meat was fibrous yet tender and quite a size to boot. All in all, I wouldn't say that this was a bad dish, just that it was different. For me, I didn't like it one bit.
Durian Chendol - What can I say? This dish was as common as it gets. Probably the only up side was the finely shaved ice, which then again can be found in many other places that sell this dish for half to a third of the price.
Can you fathom paying close to $63 for such a meal with 2 glasses of free flow lime juice? I honestly can't and the experience still seems rather surreal as I write this entry. So much for wanting to cut down on our expenditure for the evening. Strangely enough, the restaurant was almost full when we were done - a sign of growing affluence?
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Those Dim Sum cravings just don't stop and its been bothering me for quite a while. With some luck, reprieve was in sight as my colleagues and I settled for Dim Sum at the relatively well known Teahouse near our office.
Housed on the third floor of China Square, Teahouse comes under the umbrella of the illustrious Tung Lok group, which is famous for its fine dining Chinese restaurants. Step into the restaurant and a quaint teahouse setting greets you. Decor is simplistic, with wooden tables and chairs and whirling ceiling fans. The sight of Dim Sum being pushed around in trolleys complete the typical teahouse atmosphere.
Tofu with Fish Paste - I found this dish very normal. The Tofu tasted like those you could buy at the markets and the fish paste just didn't taste wholesome enough. I could probably get one of comparable quality at half the price.
Char Siew Sou - I'm rather particular when it comes to Char Siew Sou because its probably one of my favourite Dim Sum dishes. Sad to say, this one didn't quite make the cut. Although the pastry was flaky, it wasn't crisp enough and the Char Siew filling was a little tasteless. No BBQ taste, not sweet, nothing. Edible, but certainly not worth the money.
Egg Tarts - Another one of my favourite dishes. But disappointment after disappointment. The Egg Tart was just short of terrible. The custard filling was hardly sweet and the pastry crumbled upon the slightest exertion of pressure. No slightly burnt taste that I like as well.
Deep Fried Prawn Dumpling - A good gauge as to whether this dish is well executed is to taste the skin. If its thin, crispy and doesn't carry a reused oil aftertaste, then its good. Of course the prawns must be fresh as well to complement the skin. Teahouse's rendition was a mixture of good and bad. The skin could have obviously done with more deep frying because it was a little chewy instead of crispy. The prawns however, were nice and crunchy, which indicates freshness?
Carrot Cake - If I were to call the carrot cake a joke, that would be an understatement. Its probably closer to disaster. The carrot cake was soft and mushy and reeked of oil. Not to mention it left a distasteful aftertaste. Pure gross. They should really take this off the menu. I'm not kidding
Chee Cheong Fun - We had a serving of Char Siew Chee Cheong Fun and Prawn Chee Cheong Fun. Both tasted rather normal, but I like the Char Siew one more due to personal biasness. Only problem with the Chee Cheong Fun is that the skin could have been thinner and silkier.
Har Gao - Fresh and crunchy prawns enveloped by an acceptably thin skin. What more can I say? Could use some heating up though as Dim Sum is best eaten warm or piping hot.
Char Siew Pao - The Char Siew Pao didn't come piping hot. In fact it came almost cold. And cold it remained, with my palate failing to warm up to it. I personally found the skin too thick and not soft enough. The filling was normal and I almost can't remember how it tastes like. I guess that pretty much says how I feel about the Pao.
An unsatisfying Dim Sum lunch (for me at least) for 3 pax cost about $45. Not exactly the most expensive of Dim Sum lunches, but it is hard to justify for the quality and quantity of food. Add in average service and you get a place where I won't be visiting again, at least not for Dim Sum. Wah Lok beckons.
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Hungering for buffets? Want to show your friends from overseas what local cuisine tastes like? Well, look no further then Straits Kitchen. At one small(read: big) price, your friends will get to try everything they've ever wanted to try in Singaporean cuisine while enjoying a relaxed and comfortable ambiance within the confines of the Grant Hyatt.
Located on the first floor of the Grand Hyatt, Straits Kitchen is the restaurant encased in glass and partitioned with bottles, tea pots and soft lighting. Tables are of the wood variety as are the chairs in certain portions of the restaurant. The table we sat at comprised of wooden tables and chairs which look great until you realise how cramped and difficult it is to stand up and move around. Air conditioning in the restaurant is quite powerful while the music played ranges from classic malay, chinese and indian songs to suit the theme of the restaurant. An overall aesthetically pleasing presentation.
Being a buffet, counters are separated according to cuisine. There'll be separate counters for Malay food, Indian food, Chinese, Dessert and drinks. The range of items can be quite daunting and bascially, there are so many choices, your stomach will never be the same again.
I'll just name the few i've come into contact with that day. These range from Laksa, Mee Soto, Fish Soup, Chicken and duck rice, Chili Crab, Mini Buddha Jump over the wall, Fried buns, Keropok, Fried carrot Cake, Prata, Prawns and Asparagus, Fried Kway Teow, Dory fish with Beancurd, Satay, Fried rice, Ayam Pengat, Rojak, Yam Paste, Durian Ice Cream and all manners of cakes and cookies to name a few. Even with an extensive list like this, i still may have missed out on quite a few items they had to offer. Needless to say, they have alot to offer.
Reviewing a buffet is never akin to reviewing actual fine dining establishments because first of all, its impossible to put much heart into food preparation when mass producing items and secondly, even if there were good items, the trouble with too much selection is that the customer might not get to try the better items.
My colleagues mentioned that the food here was heavy as compared to carousal in Royal Scotts. They were right. With selections like fish soup noodles, fried rice, chicken rice, roti prata and laksa (that doesn't even finish covering the heavy items btw), its a killer to eat everything. In fact, eat 2 bowls of the above and you'll be stuffed enough to go home.
The food is of a certain standard of course. The better items i had were the Mini Buddha jump over the wall which came with a scallop (boiled to death and very crumbly, no sweetness whatsoever) and a piece of abalone (which may or may not be actual abalone, i'm quite sure its either low quality or fake altogether). The broth itself should be double boiled which explains why its quite salty but overall, i'd say it was still passable. The carrot cake was pretty decent albeit being extremely oily. Pair it with some chili sauce and it'll do just fine. The prawns and asparagus were quite tasteless but the prawns themselves were big and crunchy, i'm disputing a little on the freshness because after 4 prawns, it started to feel generic and all of them strangely lacked any taste of sweetness in them. The satay was pretty good as the chicken (the only one i tried because all the other meats were quickly snapped up) was tender and the satay dip was authentic enough to be good. I had the yam paste for dessert which honestly wasn't too good. It was too sweet while the coconut milk portion too watery and lacking in taste to be even slightly decent.
The best item i figured for that night? Probably the prawn crackers or the satay but thats just me.
I'd like to thank my boss again for the treat. She's really too kind and too generous. Wonderful boss i should say and i'm not even trying to flatter her. The experience was a good one although i can't say the same for the food offering but hey, its a buffet. A word of fairness is that it did not taste too bad actually, just that its not exactly grade A stuff. A good place to show overseas friends local food without braving the heat and oil of the real hawkers though. Straits kitchen is an interesting concept with decent grub. If only they could include the fresh juices as part of the buffet again to make it more attractive.
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This is a long overdue post. It's been so long that I even got rid of the pictures I took at this place unknowingly.
I dropped by one weekday afternoon with two other friends for an early lunch and was pretty excited to try out the more upmarket version of Aston's Specialties.
I ordered the King Salmon Steak ($22.90) whilst my two friends had steak. You can get their opinion of the steaks above. I tried a couple of bites from their steak and wasn't impressed. They asked for their steaks to be done medium rare... but didn't get medium rare....
My Salmon turned out to be medium rare instead. One end was even uncooked. I've never tasted salmon so horribly done really. Somewhere in between the salmon was mushy and I couldn't tell whether it's because of the way it was done or that it wasn't fresh. I struggled to finish and in the end I couldn't bear to finish it anymore.
The only thing I really liked was the fries. They were the fat sort I liked and were lightly seasoned, making them tasty on their own without sauces. *yums*
The service was reasonable with the people talking to us before the cameras were whipped out. But when they did notice the cameras, I reckoned we got more attention than other patrons.
I seriously think I would really consder before going back again.
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I'd never really been a fan of U.R.S but I was on a hunt for shoes that day and have exhausted all other options. So into this shop I went looking for the right shoes.
I was surprised to see the very similiar designs... almost identical to the ones I've seen in the other shops. They also have the designs I wanted in more acceptable colours like white brown and black. They also seem to have a larger range of working class shoes.
At first when I walked in, I was ignored by the staff nearest to the door. We looked at each other eye to eye and she turned away quickly. I had expected at least a smile or a "welcome" but was given none. I was tempted to walk out but knowing that I didn't have any other shops to go, I stayed a bit more.
Then I spotted them. The shoes I wanted in simple brown colour and they were on sale! I picked up the shoes and immediately a sweet young sales assistant appeared by my side. She offered to get the shoes in two different sizes as I wasn't sure what size I would wear. She also recommended some others which were similiar and I happily agreed to try.
After trying on about 7-9 pairs of shoes I finally bought three. The same lady served me throughout while serving some other customers. I found her to be very approachable, unlike her colleague. But later on when I was paying I found out that all of them were trainees. Apparently they are all studying and this is like attachment for them. So the other girl was very nervous which was why she turned away. I guess it's relatively forgivable then. The prices of the shoes are reasonable. An alternative to Charles and Keith I guess... despite U.R.S being around much longer than them.
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The news is out - Chef Chan will be closing its doors for the last time on the 27th of May and the chef cum owner, chef Chan Chen Hei, will be moving on to do private dining. Hence it was imperative that my gf and I tried it out for the last time.
Located at Odeon Towers along North Bridge Road, Chef Chan the restaurant boasts exquisite food at nearer to earth prices, helmed by chef Chan who used to be the master chef of restaurants in quite a few 5 star hotels. The interior is rather unique, with one area dedicated solely to Chef Chan's personal collection of Chinese antiques and the other for dining purposes. The decor, rather haphazard in my opinion, boasts floor to ceiling windows, which offer a view of the sidewalks. But what that means is that people can peer in as well as the seats are just slightly elevated about ground level.
Chef Chan's Famous Crispy Roast Chicken - A perennial favourite and one of Chef Chan's signature dish, the chicken's skin was crackling crispy and the flesh was tender and juicy. It was quite good, but I found it lacking in flavours. A little herbs or spice and salt would do just well.
Pan Fried Bean Curd Rolls - Nicely done, but the filling of meat and prawns could have been cut down in order to go well and give the right amount of bite to complement the slightly crispy skin. In all honesty, the excess meat filling made me nauseous after a while. Oh and yes, the skin could have been crispier, just like the one I had at Royal China or Wah Lok.
Choy Sum Lightly Boiled - Nothing fantastic about this dish, plain normal and a little too salty if you ask me. The only nice touch to it was the addition of Ti Pou. Portions are generous for 2 pax, but hey its $18.
Gold Medal Fried Rice - With a name like Gold Medal Fried Rice, one would assume that it was top notch or something to that effect. Well it wasn't top notch, but pretty close. The rice had a strong Wok Hei taste and ingredients were aplenty. Interestingly, tomatoes were added in as well, giving the dish added colour and taste.
A button bursting lunch for 2 pax cost about $67 (after 25% discount), which is rather reasonable for the amount of dishes we had. But having said that, I don't see myself patronising again because the quality of food, though reasonably good, is really a far cry from the early days when it was situated at Toa Payoh Safra and pretty much a one man show.
Adiós Chef Chan!
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After our dinner at Jian Dao Jian, we took a leisurely stroll to Tong Shui Café at Liang Seah Street. I had heard of its existence but this was the first time I had actually seen it. It was eye catching to say the least, with the walls painted in bright shades of red and green and traditional red Chinese lanterns hanging along the pathway. It gave a very traditional Chinese feeling, although the chandeliers inside did seem a little out of place. The eating area was small and cozy (though it might seem a little claustraphobic to some), with lots of decorations hanging from the walls. The ordering system at this eatery is similar to that of Hong Kong Café’s, in which you write your orders down on a slip of paper and pass it to the wait staff who will serve your order to you. As we were quite stuffed, we went for the Toast with Peanut Butter and Condensed Milk, Tofu with Meat Floss, Ice Cappuccino and Ice Milk Tea.
The Tofu with Meat Floss was a let down. I had expected a silkier tofu and more flavourful Meat Floss. The gravy was also too salty and oily for my liking. Toast with Peanut Butter and Condensed Milk might seem like a weird combination, but it tasted good. The Peanut Butter was smooth and creamy and the Condensed Milk added a certain sweetness to it. The toasted bread could have been crispier though.
The Ice Milk Tea and Ice Cappuccino were served in glasses that were reminiscent of honey containers and usually reserved for apple juice. I found them a little heavy on the sugar content.
All in all, a rather average experience at $15.53/-. Not too expensive and I might consider going back for supper or chit chat sessions. They close at 6am and are close to town, which makes it an even more attractive option.
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Woke up bright and early on a Sunday morning for some Dim Sum with my gf. Had been wanting to do so ever since we had Dim Sum at Yan Palace some time back. This time we decided to visit one of the old names in Dim Sum - Red Star Restaurant at Chin Swee Road. Located on the top floor of a HDB flat, Red Star is one of the very few Dim Sum places that still serves Dim Sum in pushcarts, just like the old days. The interior in itself is reminiscent of the 80s. We got there at about 0830hrs and the place was more than half filled (It can easily seat about 200 pax).
It would be sheer madness if I were to review everything I ate, so I'll just list out what I find is good and what isn't. You might probably want to avoid the Xiao Long Bao because the skin was a little too starchy and the filling was too dry. The Chee Cheong Fun was a little too rough for my liking and could do with more filling. The Banana with Shrimp Roll was rather unique, with the sweetness of the banana complementing with the taste of shrimp. Other than that, the rest of the items were pretty normal.
The 2 of us paid almost $40/- for the meal, which is expensive by Red Star's standards, considering the last time we ate there, it only cost us about $30. They probably increased the price or something. However, having said that, they are still quite reasonable for the average quality of food that they provide. So if you are looking to relive the old days of the push cart or wish to have Dim Sum as early as 0730hrs, then this is the place for you. As for me I won't be rushing back to patronise anytime soon as I'm still reeling from the shock at my bill. Yan Palace does seem like a more viable option now.
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