It has been a long time since last went for dim sum and since my partner has always wanted to go and have dim sum and we got some time on hand, decided to head towards this restaurant to try out their dim sum.
It was around 5 pm when we stepped into the place and only see to 2 tables occupied only. The place is decorated the traditional way, nothing fanciful or to wow of. Once we were shown to our table, we were shown the menu. Their dim sum items are not in the menu but on a slip of paper where you can just place your orders on it.
So we ordered a few to try their dim sum dishes.
Pan-fried carrot cake – It came simple looking carrot cake, however the taste is great! There are 3 pieces and each piece having a thin crispy layer on the outer side and inside is soft and fluffy. There are small pieces of Chinese sausage inside the cake which makes its very fragrant. Not to mention it came hot, straight from the kitchen.
Chicken feet – I am not a big fan of chicken feet but those who managed to cooked their chicken feet where all their flavor are sealed in it and the meat is soft enough to be detected from the bones, would have been a good dish for me. Well the dish managed to do it and passed the little test of mine. Taste is good, and not too spicy for me.
Prawn dumpling (Har Gao) – This is a default dish when it comes to dim sum. It came steaming hot. The skin was thin and translucent. Through the skin can see the bright orange colour of the prawns inside. There is a generous serving of prawns. On its own, can taste the prawns are fresh and sweet.
Xiao long bao – Personally, I like xaio long bao a lot, however I am a bit disappointed by their version. It came looking small and dry. Usually, I would take a bit off the top to drink the soup first and surprised to find it lacking of the soup. The skin is a bit dry and then to get a bit sticky as well. Disappointing.
Prawn with mango roll – This dish came looking all messy. Hee.. Cos it is wrapped in a spring roll skin and then got bee hoon (I think) tied around it. Inside the rool, is wrapped with prawns and a big slice of thick juicy mango. Once you take a bite, you can take the sweetness of the mango and the prawn. The combination is great! There is a special dip for it as well. This is definitely one of my favorites of the lot.
Egg tarts – This dish came with a warning: “Beware! The filling is hot!”, from the waitress as she places a dish of 4 mini egg tarts on the table. The 4 little tarts look harmless however they performed their magic when placed inside my mouth. The crust is warm and fluffy. I loved this kind of crust best even though sometimes eating it can make a mess out of it. The filling is HOT, but creamy and has a slight eggy taste to it. Another good one!
Glutinous rice – This is another one of must order dim sum as well. Two relatively medium servings of glutinous rice wrapped up in lotus leaves. Inside the leave there is of course rice, salted egg yolk, Chinese sausage, chicken and more. While eating the rice and can taste the lotus leaves flavour, and the combination of the rest makes this a good one. The portion is just right for one and it does not makes you feel full by eating one alone.
Chicken in paper bag – This one is a last minute additional. Inside the oily looking paper, hides the chicken. It took some effort to remove the paper as it got stuck with the chicken. However the effort is well spent as the chicken really tastes good. It is not dry, but juicy and well marinated as well. Not oily at all.
One thing have to say about this place is they only prepare your dim sum when you placed your order, this will ensure you dim sum came fresh and pippin hot! Extra points scores for this!
The service is quite good as well. Maybe due to the low peak period when we were there, the service was on the spot with our tea constantly full and teapot on auto refilling mode. Even though their dinner time about to start, they are not in a rush to get rid of us and let us eat in peace. The whole place I think is managed by Cantonese people, and this gives a very traditional feeling.
The bill came up to about $40 after a 10% DBS discount, consider quite cheap already. I think next time I will be back to try out their other dishes and for dinner as well. Seems like this places is quite popular for lunch and dinner as well. So keep a look out for the review on that.
Jelita seems an unlikely place to go to, with the main draw being Cold Storage, a video-shop, couple of other shops. However thats precisely where Friends are situated. A Modern European restaurant which proclaims to offer casual fine dining, Friends @ Jelita is just a stone throw away from the popular Holland Village, but offers you the serene environment which the latter could not afford with the omni-present large crowd there.
Having signed up as a member with Friends online at its website, i received a $50 voucher for every $150 spend, or a 1-for-1 Executive Set Lunch/Dinner promotion. Armed with the coupon, my companion and me made our way to Jelita, and arrived at 1250pm. Being a monday, we were not surprise to see the restaurant quite empty, but there were still some patrons though. The staff there told us that Monday is usually a good time to visit Friends as there are less customers, and you probably will not want to come here on a weekend as that’s when the families bring their kids along.
The first notion that striked me was the decorations and furnitures presented in the restaurant. The comfy grey large seats definitely make us feel at home. The lighting was dimmed, which creates a tranquil atmosphere. On the other hand, it pose a predicament to food bloggers because the poor lighting makes the photos turn out not-as-good, that is not a problem if you are a pro at photoshop.
There are two types available, the Classic Set Lunch and the Executive Set Lunch, with Executive being more expensive among the both, undoubtedly the level of standard demand will be higher. It was only sensible to order the Executive Set Lunch since it was 1-for-1. But i was intially sceptical to how good the Set Lunch can be, as the a la carte menu are all priced reasonably higher than that of the set lunch. Friends proved me wrong in this, the executive set lunch ($24.90 ) albeit being limited in options, is certainly value for money.
Australian Garden Salad Each Set Lunch comes with the Australian Garden Salad. Topped with dried fruits, raspberry vinaigrette, the hors d’oeuvre is positively a good way to begin the meal.
Soup of the day Mushroom soup with a hint of mashed potatos. This was good until we tried the other wild forest mushroom soup. The latter makes the mushroom soup seems ordinary. Actually its not bad, just that the mushroom soup meet its match with the wild forest mushroom, which is a tad better.
Wild Forest mushroom Soup (Additional Upgrade of $2)
This is the one that makes the Soup of the day seems inferior. Well, you always expect more especially when there is an additional upgrade of $2. The Wild forest mushroom soup does not fails to deliver taste-wise, it is a good appetizer as the soup helps to unlock our tastebuds for the rest of the meal.
Sautèed chicken fillet For our first main course, we had the Sautèed chicken fillet which was complemented with dried chili, rosemary & garlic anchovy. The first bite of the chicken tells it all, the fillet was tender and soft, It was unlike what normal chicken taste like, Friends re-defined the chicken experience, this certainly impressed me.
The sauce of the chicken fillet was equally good. The dried chili, rosemary & garlic anchovy combinations creates a unique taste. Sometimes the sauce of a dish gets so strong that it cover the meat, but thats not the case at Friends. The chicken fillet with the sauce seems to harmonize and blend with each other, which brings us the Sautèed chicken fillet.
Oven Baked Salmon fillet Topped with Cajun crust & lemon butter sauce, the Oven Baked Salmon fillet is another winner which bright up our meal. The cripsy cajun crust on the exterior of the salmon was complemented by its soft interior.
The lemon butter sauce has a cheesy taste, and we almost mistook it for cheese. Both mains are accompanied by mashed potatos toppled with mixed vegies. My companion had a slight issue with the salmon though. Being a big fan of salmon, she remarked that the fillet was slightly dried as compared to the other salmons she had previously. Otherwise, the salmon will be faultless.
Cappuccino The pretty sight makes us admire the Cappuccino for a while before we harden our heart and stirred the coffee.
Dessert of the day To end off our meal, we had egg crustard for desserts. This one is good, egg crustard underneath the breaded top. Every spoonful of egg crustard taste warm, like straight from the oven. We felt that it’s rather similar to whats more commonly known to us, egg tarts.
Friends Total bill for two executive set lunch was $60.6, under the 1-for-1 promotion, we paid $31.70 for the delightful lunch. The set lunch and dinner at Friends are definitely value-for-money, and should worth your try unless you want to go for the a la carte menu. The service-wise are definitely one of the better ones which i encountered on my food experience so far, the staff are polite, knowledgable and a smile is always on their face which make diners feel welcome.
By the way, we took slightly more than 1 half hours to finish our lunch, so i thought it might not be so good if you visit Friends during your lunch work break. This is one place where they waited for you to finish the starter before serving on the soup, the main, the dessert and the drink. So really it all depends on how fast you approach your dishes. My companion and I were starving when we start the meal with the salad and soup, so we were wondering when will then they served the main course. Well, if the main course is what you want, advice will be to finish the starters fast and get on with the main.
All in all, the dining experience at Friends is no doubt a pleasant one, which my companion and i both very much enjoyed. I would say this is the place where you can really have your Casual Fine Dining without really burning a hole in your pocket. For people who felt that fine-dining equates to dress-up, this is not a issue at Friends. Whether you are decked out in suits and ties, or your comfy jeans & t-shirts, you’ll be welcome at Friends all the same. On a side note, if you are driving, remember to call the restaurant for directions, as free private parking are available for diners. The next visit to Friends again, will be for their executive set dinner, or A la carte menu. And lastly i’ll like to thank my companion for accompanying me on this lovely lunch. In the company of a good friend, it just makes the meal at Friends better.
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 : )
Wah Lok is a Cantonese restaurant which has been on the 2nd floor of Carlton for a long time. The interior is quite lavish and traditional looking with a nice dome shaped main dining hall at the end which overlooks Chjimes.
We ordered SO MUCH I just can't list them all. Also the receipt is with my companion and I forgot to take a picture of it. haha Some of the food we ordered:
Century Egg Porridge This was one nice small bowl for me. I enjoyed it really. But it wasn't anything special. The serving was just right for one and the texture of the porridge was just right. It wasn't the watery sort one sometimes gets. Egg Tarts They were cute mini dim sum egg tarts. The filling was not tasty enough for me. The crust was a little too crumbly which forced me to put the entire thing in my mouth and I couldn't take my time with it. Average I guess.
Steamed Prawn Dumplings - Har Gao Har gao is one dish I always look forward to when I eat dim sum. This one was not really what I like though. Although I attacked right after all the photo taking, it was already pretty dry and the edges were a tad hard. The prawn was pretty fresh but the skin wasn't what I would prefer. Sigh.
Roasted Pork Bun - Char Siew Bao I like that the filling wasn't too sweet and there weren't fatty bits. But the dough portion was a little too thick. I like those that are thinner and open up more. Not bad really. Beancurd Skin with Prawn It was oily (as usual) but very crisp. I'm not a fan of beancurd skin but this was one I pretty much liked.
It cost us about $28-$29 each. There were three of us that day. Service was pretty good though I didn't get my water filled at all throughout. My friend's warm water did get filled though. I find Wah Lok's dim sum too "heavy" for me... get full very easily. I guess, in a way, that's more traditional.
New York New York (NYNY), the eye-catching restaurant located at the underground of Citylink. NYNY stands out with its dazzling name, and always caught the attention with its alluring interior decorations. The green and cozy furnitures are the signature of NYNY. Having pass by NYNY many times but fail to go inside, a timely visit is always due on the cards as my companion and me went there for lunch.
Seafood Platter for 2 ($33.90)
We ordered the Seafood Platter for 2 to share. A platter fit for the Kings and Queens of New York! Cold Crab, prawn fritters, crispy fish salmon and calamari rings, compose of the delightful meal. Having ordered Seafood platters previously before at Manhattan Fish Market and Fish & Co, i was pleasantly surprise when the platter arrive. All right i admitted, i did not pay much attention when i made the order, so i didn’t really notice the word “Cold Crab” on the menu. Yep, thats the surprise, neither was my companion ready for it. Nonetheless, let us take a peek into what is present in the platter.
Crispy fish & chips
Well you know the ever-present fish & chips? Steady and reliable
Prawn Fritters
The prawn fritters were excellent. I loved this one. No doubt the prawn might not be very big, but then the bigger the prawn, i feel the less tasty it is. The prawn here is deep-fried, coupled with the Tata sauce, it is simply irresistible.
Fish Salmon
The Fish salmon here eaten raw, a tad too fishy for me, so i’ll give it a pass
Calamari Rings
Now then, everybody should know Calamaris are actually fried squids right? O well just in case. The Calamari rings here are up to the mark, tender and juicy. In my humble opinion, i consider the calamari rings here to be one level up from the one at Fish & Co. The main explanation being the ones at Fish & Co are too salty for my liking.
Cold Crab
North Altantic Fishermen love their chilled steamed crabs. Just some background information on the crustacean. In case you don’t know what is a crustacean, they are large group of arthropods, comprising approximately 52,000 described species. Baffled already? All right all right, to put it in short, some of the names we are familar with; lobsters, crabs, shrimps, crayfish,
The sea creature with the claws that are ready to pinch you if you are not too careful. To be honest, i am not a big fan of crabs. Why? Because i am lazy, yes pure lazy.
It takes skill to eat a crab you know? there are so many different parts of the crab to be eaten, well i like the big hammer of the crab, there’s lots of meat there. The small leg? Nah, you can have it. You’ll have to slowly suck the meat out of the thin skinny leg. Well be careful while you are having a suck at it, the cute guy or pretty girl next table might just be looking at you.
Nevertheless, both of us took quite a long time to finish it, the Cold Crab is fresh, too bad we are not crab lovers huh? hahaha!
Some might say New York New York is not good, they excel in the decorations but failed in the food. But my contrarian view tells me that they are good and a excellent place to hang out with your friends. The decorations are well done, in fact the environment of a restaurant plays a huge role as to whether the food is good. The food might not be the best, but they are still good. The crucial factor to this will be the price, its within reasonable pricing, and all this only sums up to one equation, i will be back.
Total bill was $39.90 for 2 person, which i find it to be inexpensive. NYNY @ Citylink is strategically located to tap on the huge crowd travelling from City Hall to Suntec/Marine Square. Thus, the restaurant being full even when it is not during lunch or dinner time is not an uncommon sight. There are more to try from the comprehensive menu of NYNY. Until then!
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 : )
Very nice atmosphere, spacious and comfy chair. Live performances of piano and pop songs. A great place to hang out with a small group of close friends, your lover for a romantic wedding anniversary or just to sit and relax, enjoy your drink and the scenery outside of the Esplanade. Had Singapore Sling, Lychee Martini and one I forgot the name but its strawberry. While the prices are above average, the drinks are also above average so its still a value. Service is good though a bit slow. On the whole, I can't think of anything bad about the place except it burnt my wallet.
Lovely atmosphere with a mix of jazz and zen style. Extensive menu that left us with a hard choice of what to order. We ordered chicken and mushroom Linguine, King Prawn quarter chicken and pork rib, Steak, Lamb chop, Caesar salad, garlic bread, Mussels and mushroom soup. Dessert was Rich Choc truffle. The
Linguine was great with the tomato and herb sauce just right and chicken sweet.
King prawn dish on the other hand, tasted too dry, chicken was overcooked hence tough. and the portion was just too much.
Steak tasted alright though I think the sauce some what covered the taste of the beef and make the taste below the line.
Lamp chop was fine without the strong smell of lamp meat and the blend of the mint sauce was well done.
Caesar salad was what we found to be the best dish of the night with crisp fresh vege and sweet chicken in delicious mayo. Portion was very big for a starter.
Rich Choc Truffle was indeed very rich. It needs to be taken together with the cranberry/mango sauce provided to be great tasting.
A great place to chill out though the price is a bit above average but the taste of the food is valued for money. Serves liqueur as well as some house pours though we did not order any as we are going off elsewhere to drink.
Cons:
Had a hard time trying to get the waiter (should be a Pakistani?) who served us to understand what we are talking about. Does not serve cold water unless you order their drinks.
Located in the newly re-furbished basement of Bugis Junction, Sweetalk sells beverages at affordable prices which a as low as $1.50!
In comparison to other bubbletea outlets in a popular shopping mall, $1.50 for a 200ml cup of beverage is rather commendable. Not only is Sweetalk's bubble tea affordable, it is also very tasty! Contrary to popular beliefs, afforability does not equate to poor quality, and Sweetalk (Bugis Junction) very much lives up to that reputation! Their teas are not excessively diluted to begin with, which allows for a certain amount of ice to melt off without diluting the whole beverage. THAT is what people are looking for.
When asked, my classmate said, "I prefer Sweetalk at Bugis Junction because their standard of bubble tea is constant and i'd willingly pay $1.50 to enjoy it."
Sweetalk (bugis junction) also has a very open concept in which customers or any passers-by will be able to look in and witness for themselves how the interior or the counter looks like, which does not allow for them to be unhygienic under any circumstances.
Personally i've been there tons of times and i can guarantee the consistency in the high standards of their beverages, and the proper hygiene in the environment in which the beverages are made, which really gives me a peace of mind as a consumer.
A worthy little investment for a worthy little indulgent!
I was sick for a week and was really wrecking my brains for something to eat. A friend suggested Vietnamese food and we went to Le Viet. I'd walked past this place many times and never stepped in to try the food.
Simple and modern decor. It had this nice water tank running along the side of the restaurant. There were guppies and goldfish swimming about it. When we got there, they had just put fresh food in so all the fish were coming to the surface. It was certainly nice to look at.
There were few people there that weekday evening. So it wasn't too noisy. Just right with a few tables occupied.
There was quite a variety and being a noob to vietnamese food, I spent a lot of time poring over the descriptions....
Food Ordered:
Goi Cuon - Fresh Rice Paper Roll ($6) There were 3 rolls and you had a choice of chicken or pork. We picked chicken. The shredded chicken was wrapped in a paper thin translucent skin with vermicelli, beansprouts and basil. I liked this very much. It was light yet savoury. Bun Ga Nuong - Dry Vietnamese Vermicelli w Chicken ($8.50) This arrived looking like your regular Kueh Tiao with Grilled Chicken. But flip it and you'll find a host of crunchy vegetables right underneath! Toss it well and you have yourself a savoury noodle salad! Yummy!!
Pho Bo Thap Cam - 3-in-1 Mixed Noodles ($8.50) My friend had this with slices and beef balls. You can choose 2 out of 3 options and those were his choices. I didn't eat this because I'm not a fan of beef. But the soup was very very tasty!
Including drinks our bill came u to about $30 (and a little more) which I find pretty reasonable. Every thing was served fast cos it's not too hard to prepare... and the service was satisfactory.
It is always not too good to have too high expectations of a place because the expectations the bigger the disappointment will be. Having saying that, it happens to this place. I have heard a lot of people telling me this place has one of the best Japanese buffet in town and it is worth the money, and it has been one of the places that I wanted to go and give it a try. The chance came when my partner invited me to join her colleagues for dinner there. So a big group of us went, not to say that one of her colleagues is a big fan of that place.
The restaurant is hidden in the first level of the hotel, if not for the Japanese style of door way, it is a blink and miss place. Once walked inside, I was surprise by how small the whole place is. It looks like those Japanese old cottages. There is a few traditional tables where you have to take off your shoes and sit. A number of small tables with small sets and the rest of the seats are bar counter seats. For a big group of people like us, we have to squeeze as well. If you are big sized like me, you will definitely knock to the person sitting next to you. Advice is to go in a group less than 10 people.
Next, is the food. The menu is cramped with words, no pictures. So if you expect to order by pictures, you will be sorely disappointed. At times, I just go by my guts to order as well. There is a lot of food to offer from sushi to sashimi to bento to soba etc. Lots of them in wide and different variety as well. They also served a few items as starters first, like smoked salmon. A mini seafood paper steamboat where the soup base is too salty. A miso soup that came in a tea pot and have to squeeze in lime juice as well, quite refreshing for that.
In a big group, there is confusion over ordering of food as the waitress just came with the food and we also not sure if we had ordered the food. Since it is a buffet, we just eat whatever is placed on our table. In other words, it can be a mess!
Sashimi’s lover would loved this place! Their variety is a lot and they came in big portions, not to mention that the slices came in very thick slices. Hmm… but not very fresh. Too bad I m not really a big fan of it. They got limited sushi chooses but I am not too impressed with their sushi as well. I have tasted better ones elsewhere. The rest of the food can be quite forgettable. Their tempera, again a lot of variety, from prawns to mushrooms, was quite ok nothing to wow off.
One funny thing did happen when I was ordering chicken cutlet, they asked me how many cuts I want. I thought in terms of how many full cutlets they mean. In the end, it turn out their cuts means how many slices I want. A bit … …
Their service can be quite slow and there was periods of time that we got no food and when we tried to order, their waitress always seem busy with other things or other people. As their tables are quite small, they also slow to clear the plates as well. Think they could have done with more help.
Seems that the place is quite popular as it was packed by 8pm and even the counter seats are packed like sardines. Like they say it is always better to make reservation for the place.
At a cost of $33 plus plus plus, in the end it was $38.80 per person. Personally, I think it is not worth the money and I would rather spend the money on other sushi places. Not to say because of my high expectations of the place, I was sorely disappointed and dun think I will be back to this place unless someone is giving me a treat. Hmm… so Sushi Teh any one?
Talk about pizza in Singapore and the first name to jump at you will be Pizza Hut. However, there are quite a variety of other offerings out there yet to be noticed or even recommended. Most are targeted at niche markets instead of the usual crowd and honestly, i think Pizza Hut is charging a little too much these days. In comes New York Pizza, more casual and easy going then Pizza Hut, and also decidedly Halal so it can be enjoyed by even more people. Lets have a bite and find out if its a contender shall we?
Simple and gets the job done. The location is alfresco and thats about all there is to it. I wasn't very happy that i'd have to stay in the sun and get all comfy with it and the fact that there's a noticeable waiting time of about 10 minutes after you order makes it look less palatable
The container - Do not let the picture fool you. This is not a small piece of pizza at all. To put it in perspective, think about the length of pizza huts biggest pizza and you get the idea of how long this is.
Queens Meal = Pepperoni Pizza Chicken Wing Pepsi ($6.90) - Queens meal, nice name though it belies the actual fact that its quite simply a big piece of pepperoni pizza with green pepper, pepperoni and bits of beef. The pizza itself is pretty big and can be split into 4 further pieces for consumption. Its crust is reasonable but very crunchy and crispy which is a refreshing change from pizza huts rather flour filled pizzas. The toppings weren't much to shout about however and i soon got sick of the same taste it offered. The chicken wing was strangely fragrant and sweet, not to mention piping hot
Hawaiian Pizza Meal ($6.90) - Its crust is alike with the pepperoni version which i suppose is the determining factor and difference it is bringing to the scene. Crunchy but a little overdone such that you could see the charred portions from over baking. The Hawaiian pizza is a little too sweet and easily overwhelmed after more then 3 bites into it. The ingredients used were also a little miserly when compared to other pizza places i got to try.
The lunch came up to $13.80 which can't be considered expensive. We did get very sick of the pizza after our 2 helpings so i don't think i will be returning.
I actually tried the place a long time ago when it first started. During that time i had the fish and chips and also tried its pizza burger. Both were pretty good and the fish and chips in particular had a wonderful fresh taste to it. During this visit, the machine was spoiled and thats why we settled for its less then optimal pizzas. Well, i wouldn't know if the fish and chips are any good now since i probably won't try it again. If anyone else tries, let me know if it tastes good alright? Cheers!
1=SGD 0.0587
It has been a long time since last went for dim sum and since my partner has always wanted to go and have dim sum and we got some time on hand, decided to head towards this restaurant to try out their dim sum.
It was around 5 pm when we stepped into the place and only see to 2 tables occupied only. The place is decorated the traditional way, nothing fanciful or to wow of. Once we were shown to our table, we were shown the menu. Their dim sum items are not in the menu but on a slip of paper where you can just place your orders on it.
So we ordered a few to try their dim sum dishes.
Pan-fried carrot cake – It came simple looking carrot cake, however the taste is great! There are 3 pieces and each piece having a thin crispy layer on the outer side and inside is soft and fluffy. There are small pieces of Chinese sausage inside the cake which makes its very fragrant. Not to mention it came hot, straight from the kitchen.
Chicken feet – I am not a big fan of chicken feet but those who managed to cooked their chicken feet where all their flavor are sealed in it and the meat is soft enough to be detected from the bones, would have been a good dish for me. Well the dish managed to do it and passed the little test of mine. Taste is good, and not too spicy for me.
Prawn dumpling (Har Gao) – This is a default dish when it comes to dim sum. It came steaming hot. The skin was thin and translucent. Through the skin can see the bright orange colour of the prawns inside. There is a generous serving of prawns. On its own, can taste the prawns are fresh and sweet.
Xiao long bao – Personally, I like xaio long bao a lot, however I am a bit disappointed by their version. It came looking small and dry. Usually, I would take a bit off the top to drink the soup first and surprised to find it lacking of the soup. The skin is a bit dry and then to get a bit sticky as well. Disappointing.
Prawn with mango roll – This dish came looking all messy. Hee.. Cos it is wrapped in a spring roll skin and then got bee hoon (I think) tied around it. Inside the rool, is wrapped with prawns and a big slice of thick juicy mango. Once you take a bite, you can take the sweetness of the mango and the prawn. The combination is great! There is a special dip for it as well. This is definitely one of my favorites of the lot.
Egg tarts – This dish came with a warning: “Beware! The filling is hot!”, from the waitress as she places a dish of 4 mini egg tarts on the table. The 4 little tarts look harmless however they performed their magic when placed inside my mouth. The crust is warm and fluffy. I loved this kind of crust best even though sometimes eating it can make a mess out of it. The filling is HOT, but creamy and has a slight eggy taste to it. Another good one!
Glutinous rice – This is another one of must order dim sum as well. Two relatively medium servings of glutinous rice wrapped up in lotus leaves. Inside the leave there is of course rice, salted egg yolk, Chinese sausage, chicken and more. While eating the rice and can taste the lotus leaves flavour, and the combination of the rest makes this a good one. The portion is just right for one and it does not makes you feel full by eating one alone.
Chicken in paper bag – This one is a last minute additional. Inside the oily looking paper, hides the chicken. It took some effort to remove the paper as it got stuck with the chicken. However the effort is well spent as the chicken really tastes good. It is not dry, but juicy and well marinated as well. Not oily at all.
One thing have to say about this place is they only prepare your dim sum when you placed your order, this will ensure you dim sum came fresh and pippin hot! Extra points scores for this!
The service is quite good as well. Maybe due to the low peak period when we were there, the service was on the spot with our tea constantly full and teapot on auto refilling mode. Even though their dinner time about to start, they are not in a rush to get rid of us and let us eat in peace. The whole place I think is managed by Cantonese people, and this gives a very traditional feeling.
The bill came up to about $40 after a 10% DBS discount, consider quite cheap already. I think next time I will be back to try out their other dishes and for dinner as well. Seems like this places is quite popular for lunch and dinner as well. So keep a look out for the review on that.
Rating given:
Jelita seems an unlikely place to go to, with the main draw being Cold Storage, a video-shop, couple of other shops. However thats precisely where Friends are situated. A Modern European restaurant which proclaims to offer casual fine dining, Friends @ Jelita is just a stone throw away from the popular Holland Village, but offers you the serene environment which the latter could not afford with the omni-present large crowd there.
Having signed up as a member with Friends online at its website, i received a $50 voucher for every $150 spend, or a 1-for-1 Executive Set Lunch/Dinner promotion. Armed with the coupon, my companion and me made our way to Jelita, and arrived at 1250pm. Being a monday, we were not surprise to see the restaurant quite empty, but there were still some patrons though. The staff there told us that Monday is usually a good time to visit Friends as there are less customers, and you probably will not want to come here on a weekend as that’s when the families bring their kids along.
The first notion that striked me was the decorations and furnitures presented in the restaurant. The comfy grey large seats definitely make us feel at home. The lighting was dimmed, which creates a tranquil atmosphere. On the other hand, it pose a predicament to food bloggers because the poor lighting makes the photos turn out not-as-good, that is not a problem if you are a pro at photoshop.
There are two types available, the Classic Set Lunch and the Executive Set Lunch, with Executive being more expensive among the both, undoubtedly the level of standard demand will be higher. It was only sensible to order the Executive Set Lunch since it was 1-for-1. But i was intially sceptical to how good the Set Lunch can be, as the a la carte menu are all priced reasonably higher than that of the set lunch. Friends proved me wrong in this, the executive set lunch ($24.90 ) albeit being limited in options, is certainly value for money.
Australian Garden Salad
Each Set Lunch comes with the Australian Garden Salad. Topped with dried fruits, raspberry vinaigrette, the hors d’oeuvre is positively a good way to begin the meal.
Soup of the day
Mushroom soup with a hint of mashed potatos. This was good until we tried the other wild forest mushroom soup. The latter makes the mushroom soup seems ordinary. Actually its not bad, just that the mushroom soup meet its match with the wild forest mushroom, which is a tad better.
Wild Forest mushroom Soup (Additional Upgrade of $2)
This is the one that makes the Soup of the day seems inferior. Well, you always expect more especially when there is an additional upgrade of $2. The Wild forest mushroom soup does not fails to deliver taste-wise, it is a good appetizer as the soup helps to unlock our tastebuds for the rest of the meal.
Sautèed chicken fillet
For our first main course, we had the Sautèed chicken fillet which was complemented with dried chili, rosemary & garlic anchovy. The first bite of the chicken tells it all, the fillet was tender and soft, It was unlike what normal chicken taste like, Friends re-defined the chicken experience, this certainly impressed me.
The sauce of the chicken fillet was equally good. The dried chili, rosemary & garlic anchovy combinations creates a unique taste. Sometimes the sauce of a dish gets so strong that it cover the meat, but thats not the case at Friends. The chicken fillet with the sauce seems to harmonize and blend with each other, which brings us the Sautèed chicken fillet.
Oven Baked Salmon fillet
Topped with Cajun crust & lemon butter sauce, the Oven Baked Salmon fillet is another winner which bright up our meal. The cripsy cajun crust on the exterior of the salmon was complemented by its soft interior.
The lemon butter sauce has a cheesy taste, and we almost mistook it for cheese. Both mains are accompanied by mashed potatos toppled with mixed vegies. My companion had a slight issue with the salmon though. Being a big fan of salmon, she remarked that the fillet was slightly dried as compared to the other salmons she had previously. Otherwise, the salmon will be faultless.
Cappuccino
The pretty sight makes us admire the Cappuccino for a while before we harden our heart and stirred the coffee.
Dessert of the day
To end off our meal, we had egg crustard for desserts. This one is good, egg crustard underneath the breaded top. Every spoonful of egg crustard taste warm, like straight from the oven. We felt that it’s rather similar to whats more commonly known to us, egg tarts.
Friends
Total bill for two executive set lunch was $60.6, under the 1-for-1 promotion, we paid $31.70 for the delightful lunch. The set lunch and dinner at Friends are definitely value-for-money, and should worth your try unless you want to go for the a la carte menu. The service-wise are definitely one of the better ones which i encountered on my food experience so far, the staff are polite, knowledgable and a smile is always on their face which make diners feel welcome.
By the way, we took slightly more than 1 half hours to finish our lunch, so i thought it might not be so good if you visit Friends during your lunch work break. This is one place where they waited for you to finish the starter before serving on the soup, the main, the dessert and the drink. So really it all depends on how fast you approach your dishes. My companion and I were starving when we start the meal with the salad and soup, so we were wondering when will then they served the main course. Well, if the main course is what you want, advice will be to finish the starters fast and get on with the main.
All in all, the dining experience at Friends is no doubt a pleasant one, which my companion and i both very much enjoyed. I would say this is the place where you can really have your Casual Fine Dining without really burning a hole in your pocket. For people who felt that fine-dining equates to dress-up, this is not a issue at Friends. Whether you are decked out in suits and ties, or your comfy jeans & t-shirts, you’ll be welcome at Friends all the same. On a side note, if you are driving, remember to call the restaurant for directions, as free private parking are available for diners. The next visit to Friends again, will be for their executive set dinner, or A la carte menu. And lastly i’ll like to thank my companion for accompanying me on this lovely lunch. In the company of a good friend, it just makes the meal at Friends better.
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 : )
” Modern European Cuisine at its finest “
Rating given:
Wah Lok is a Cantonese restaurant which has been on the 2nd floor of Carlton for a long time. The interior is quite lavish and traditional looking with a nice dome shaped main dining hall at the end which overlooks Chjimes.
We ordered SO MUCH I just can't list them all. Also the receipt is with my companion and I forgot to take a picture of it. haha
Some of the food we ordered:
Century Egg Porridge
This was one nice small bowl for me. I enjoyed it really. But it wasn't anything special. The serving was just right for one and the texture of the porridge was just right. It wasn't the watery sort one sometimes gets.
Egg Tarts
They were cute mini dim sum egg tarts. The filling was not tasty enough for me. The crust was a little too crumbly which forced me to put the entire thing in my mouth and I couldn't take my time with it. Average I guess.
Steamed Prawn Dumplings - Har Gao
Har gao is one dish I always look forward to when I eat dim sum. This one was not really what I like though. Although I attacked right after all the photo taking, it was already pretty dry and the edges were a tad hard. The prawn was pretty fresh but the skin wasn't what I would prefer. Sigh.
Roasted Pork Bun - Char Siew Bao
I like that the filling wasn't too sweet and there weren't fatty bits. But the dough portion was a little too thick. I like those that are thinner and open up more. Not bad really.
Beancurd Skin with Prawn
It was oily (as usual) but very crisp. I'm not a fan of beancurd skin but this was one I pretty much liked.
It cost us about $28-$29 each. There were three of us that day. Service was pretty good though I didn't get my water filled at all throughout. My friend's warm water did get filled though. I find Wah Lok's dim sum too "heavy" for me... get full very easily. I guess, in a way, that's more traditional.
Rating given:
New York New York (NYNY), the eye-catching restaurant located at the underground of Citylink. NYNY stands out with its dazzling name, and always caught the attention with its alluring interior decorations. The green and cozy furnitures are the signature of NYNY. Having pass by NYNY many times but fail to go inside, a timely visit is always due on the cards as my companion and me went there for lunch.
Seafood Platter for 2 ($33.90)
We ordered the Seafood Platter for 2 to share. A platter fit for the Kings and Queens of New York! Cold Crab, prawn fritters, crispy fish salmon and calamari rings, compose of the delightful meal. Having ordered Seafood platters previously before at Manhattan Fish Market and Fish & Co, i was pleasantly surprise when the platter arrive. All right i admitted, i did not pay much attention when i made the order, so i didn’t really notice the word “Cold Crab” on the menu. Yep, thats the surprise, neither was my companion ready for it. Nonetheless, let us take a peek into what is present in the platter.
Crispy fish & chips
Well you know the ever-present fish & chips? Steady and reliable
Prawn Fritters
The prawn fritters were excellent. I loved this one. No doubt the prawn might not be very big, but then the bigger the prawn, i feel the less tasty it is. The prawn here is deep-fried, coupled with the Tata sauce, it is simply irresistible.
Fish Salmon
The Fish salmon here eaten raw, a tad too fishy for me, so i’ll give it a pass
Calamari Rings
Now then, everybody should know Calamaris are actually fried squids right? O well just in case. The Calamari rings here are up to the mark, tender and juicy. In my humble opinion, i consider the calamari rings here to be one level up from the one at Fish & Co. The main explanation being the ones at Fish & Co are too salty for my liking.
Cold Crab
North Altantic Fishermen love their chilled steamed crabs. Just some background information on the crustacean. In case you don’t know what is a crustacean, they are large group of arthropods, comprising approximately 52,000 described species. Baffled already? All right all right, to put it in short, some of the names we are familar with; lobsters, crabs, shrimps, crayfish,
The sea creature with the claws that are ready to pinch you if you are not too careful. To be honest, i am not a big fan of crabs. Why? Because i am lazy, yes pure lazy.
It takes skill to eat a crab you know? there are so many different parts of the crab to be eaten, well i like the big hammer of the crab, there’s lots of meat there. The small leg? Nah, you can have it. You’ll have to slowly suck the meat out of the thin skinny leg. Well be careful while you are having a suck at it, the cute guy or pretty girl next table might just be looking at you.
Nevertheless, both of us took quite a long time to finish it, the Cold Crab is fresh, too bad we are not crab lovers huh? hahaha!
Some might say New York New York is not good, they excel in the decorations but failed in the food. But my contrarian view tells me that they are good and a excellent place to hang out with your friends. The decorations are well done, in fact the environment of a restaurant plays a huge role as to whether the food is good. The food might not be the best, but they are still good. The crucial factor to this will be the price, its within reasonable pricing, and all this only sums up to one equation, i will be back.
Total bill was $39.90 for 2 person, which i find it to be inexpensive. NYNY @ Citylink is strategically located to tap on the huge crowd travelling from City Hall to Suntec/Marine Square. Thus, the restaurant being full even when it is not during lunch or dinner time is not an uncommon sight. There are more to try from the comprehensive menu of NYNY. Until then!
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 : )
” Food all the way from New York City “
Rating given:
Pros:
Very nice atmosphere, spacious and comfy chair. Live performances of piano and pop songs. A great place to hang out with a small group of close friends, your lover for a romantic wedding anniversary or just to sit and relax, enjoy your drink and the scenery outside of the Esplanade. Had Singapore Sling, Lychee Martini and one I forgot the name but its strawberry. While the prices are above average, the drinks are also above average so its still a value. Service is good though a bit slow. On the whole, I can't think of anything bad about the place except it burnt my wallet.
Rating given:
Pros:
Lovely atmosphere with a mix of jazz and zen style. Extensive menu that left us with a hard choice of what to order.
We ordered chicken and mushroom Linguine, King Prawn quarter chicken and pork rib, Steak, Lamb chop, Caesar salad, garlic bread, Mussels and mushroom soup. Dessert was Rich Choc truffle. The
Linguine was great with the tomato and herb sauce just right and chicken sweet.
King prawn dish on the other hand, tasted too dry, chicken was overcooked hence tough. and the portion was just too much.
Steak tasted alright though I think the sauce some what covered the taste of the beef and make the taste below the line.
Lamp chop was fine without the strong smell of lamp meat and the blend of the mint sauce was well done.
Caesar salad was what we found to be the best dish of the night with crisp fresh vege and sweet chicken in delicious mayo. Portion was very big for a starter.
Rich Choc Truffle was indeed very rich. It needs to be taken together with the cranberry/mango sauce provided to be great tasting.
A great place to chill out though the price is a bit above average but the taste of the food is valued for money. Serves liqueur as well as some house pours though we did not order any as we are going off elsewhere to drink.
Cons:
Had a hard time trying to get the waiter (should be a Pakistani?) who served us to understand what we are talking about. Does not serve cold water unless you order their drinks.
Rating given:
Located in the newly re-furbished basement of Bugis Junction, Sweetalk sells beverages at affordable prices which a as low as $1.50!
In comparison to other bubbletea outlets in a popular shopping mall, $1.50 for a 200ml cup of beverage is rather commendable. Not only is Sweetalk's bubble tea affordable, it is also very tasty! Contrary to popular beliefs, afforability does not equate to poor quality, and Sweetalk (Bugis Junction) very much lives up to that reputation! Their teas are not excessively diluted to begin with, which allows for a certain amount of ice to melt off without diluting the whole beverage. THAT is what people are looking for.
When asked, my classmate said, "I prefer Sweetalk at Bugis Junction because their standard of bubble tea is constant and i'd willingly pay $1.50 to enjoy it."
Sweetalk (bugis junction) also has a very open concept in which customers or any passers-by will be able to look in and witness for themselves how the interior or the counter looks like, which does not allow for them to be unhygienic under any circumstances.
Personally i've been there tons of times and i can guarantee the consistency in the high standards of their beverages, and the proper hygiene in the environment in which the beverages are made, which really gives me a peace of mind as a consumer.
A worthy little investment for a worthy little indulgent!
Rating given:
I was sick for a week and was really wrecking my brains for something to eat. A friend suggested Vietnamese food and we went to Le Viet. I'd walked past this place many times and never stepped in to try the food.
Simple and modern decor. It had this nice water tank running along the side of the restaurant. There were guppies and goldfish swimming about it. When we got there, they had just put fresh food in so all the fish were coming to the surface. It was certainly nice to look at.
There were few people there that weekday evening. So it wasn't too noisy. Just right with a few tables occupied.
There was quite a variety and being a noob to vietnamese food, I spent a lot of time poring over the descriptions....
Food Ordered:
Goi Cuon - Fresh Rice Paper Roll ($6)
There were 3 rolls and you had a choice of chicken or pork. We picked chicken. The shredded chicken was wrapped in a paper thin translucent skin with vermicelli, beansprouts and basil. I liked this very much. It was light yet savoury.
Bun Ga Nuong - Dry Vietnamese Vermicelli w Chicken ($8.50)
This arrived looking like your regular Kueh Tiao with Grilled Chicken. But flip it and you'll find a host of crunchy vegetables right underneath! Toss it well and you have yourself a savoury noodle salad! Yummy!!
Pho Bo Thap Cam - 3-in-1 Mixed Noodles ($8.50)
My friend had this with slices and beef balls. You can choose 2 out of 3 options and those were his choices. I didn't eat this because I'm not a fan of beef. But the soup was very very tasty!
Including drinks our bill came u to about $30 (and a little more) which I find pretty reasonable. Every thing was served fast cos it's not too hard to prepare... and the service was satisfactory.
Rating given:
It is always not too good to have too high expectations of a place because the expectations the bigger the disappointment will be. Having saying that, it happens to this place. I have heard a lot of people telling me this place has one of the best Japanese buffet in town and it is worth the money, and it has been one of the places that I wanted to go and give it a try. The chance came when my partner invited me to join her colleagues for dinner there. So a big group of us went, not to say that one of her colleagues is a big fan of that place.
The restaurant is hidden in the first level of the hotel, if not for the Japanese style of door way, it is a blink and miss place. Once walked inside, I was surprise by how small the whole place is. It looks like those Japanese old cottages. There is a few traditional tables where you have to take off your shoes and sit. A number of small tables with small sets and the rest of the seats are bar counter seats. For a big group of people like us, we have to squeeze as well. If you are big sized like me, you will definitely knock to the person sitting next to you. Advice is to go in a group less than 10 people.
Next, is the food. The menu is cramped with words, no pictures. So if you expect to order by pictures, you will be sorely disappointed. At times, I just go by my guts to order as well. There is a lot of food to offer from sushi to sashimi to bento to soba etc. Lots of them in wide and different variety as well. They also served a few items as starters first, like smoked salmon. A mini seafood paper steamboat where the soup base is too salty. A miso soup that came in a tea pot and have to squeeze in lime juice as well, quite refreshing for that.
In a big group, there is confusion over ordering of food as the waitress just came with the food and we also not sure if we had ordered the food. Since it is a buffet, we just eat whatever is placed on our table. In other words, it can be a mess!
Sashimi’s lover would loved this place! Their variety is a lot and they came in big portions, not to mention that the slices came in very thick slices. Hmm… but not very fresh. Too bad I m not really a big fan of it. They got limited sushi chooses but I am not too impressed with their sushi as well. I have tasted better ones elsewhere. The rest of the food can be quite forgettable. Their tempera, again a lot of variety, from prawns to mushrooms, was quite ok nothing to wow off.
One funny thing did happen when I was ordering chicken cutlet, they asked me how many cuts I want. I thought in terms of how many full cutlets they mean. In the end, it turn out their cuts means how many slices I want. A bit … …
Their service can be quite slow and there was periods of time that we got no food and when we tried to order, their waitress always seem busy with other things or other people. As their tables are quite small, they also slow to clear the plates as well. Think they could have done with more help.
Seems that the place is quite popular as it was packed by 8pm and even the counter seats are packed like sardines. Like they say it is always better to make reservation for the place.
At a cost of $33 plus plus plus, in the end it was $38.80 per person. Personally, I think it is not worth the money and I would rather spend the money on other sushi places. Not to say because of my high expectations of the place, I was sorely disappointed and dun think I will be back to this place unless someone is giving me a treat. Hmm… so Sushi Teh any one?
Rating given:
Talk about pizza in Singapore and the first name to jump at you will be Pizza Hut. However, there are quite a variety of other offerings out there yet to be noticed or even recommended. Most are targeted at niche markets instead of the usual crowd and honestly, i think Pizza Hut is charging a little too much these days. In comes New York Pizza, more casual and easy going then Pizza Hut, and also decidedly Halal so it can be enjoyed by even more people. Lets have a bite and find out if its a contender shall we?
Simple and gets the job done. The location is alfresco and thats about all there is to it. I wasn't very happy that i'd have to stay in the sun and get all comfy with it and the fact that there's a noticeable waiting time of about 10 minutes after you order makes it look less palatable
The container - Do not let the picture fool you. This is not a small piece of pizza at all. To put it in perspective, think about the length of pizza huts biggest pizza and you get the idea of how long this is.
Queens Meal = Pepperoni Pizza Chicken Wing Pepsi ($6.90) - Queens meal, nice name though it belies the actual fact that its quite simply a big piece of pepperoni pizza with green pepper, pepperoni and bits of beef. The pizza itself is pretty big and can be split into 4 further pieces for consumption. Its crust is reasonable but very crunchy and crispy which is a refreshing change from pizza huts rather flour filled pizzas. The toppings weren't much to shout about however and i soon got sick of the same taste it offered. The chicken wing was strangely fragrant and sweet, not to mention piping hot
Hawaiian Pizza Meal ($6.90) - Its crust is alike with the pepperoni version which i suppose is the determining factor and difference it is bringing to the scene. Crunchy but a little overdone such that you could see the charred portions from over baking. The Hawaiian pizza is a little too sweet and easily overwhelmed after more then 3 bites into it. The ingredients used were also a little miserly when compared to other pizza places i got to try.
The lunch came up to $13.80 which can't be considered expensive. We did get very sick of the pizza after our 2 helpings so i don't think i will be returning.
I actually tried the place a long time ago when it first started. During that time i had the fish and chips and also tried its pizza burger. Both were pretty good and the fish and chips in particular had a wonderful fresh taste to it. During this visit, the machine was spoiled and thats why we settled for its less then optimal pizzas. Well, i wouldn't know if the fish and chips are any good now since i probably won't try it again. If anyone else tries, let me know if it tastes good alright? Cheers!
Rating given: