Before I start reviewing.. I would like to thank Essy and VO man for buying me dinner at this very classy chinese restaurant with such tasty and elegant looking food.........
Lets start with my favourite dishes...
1) Peking Duck
Its really half a duck... Skin so crispy and juicy... I mean who can resist peking duck... Wrap the crispy skin with fluffy thin skin, lace on some thick savoury sauce add on a fresh green onions stalks... You're ready to go....The first bite was all crunch and flavour from the Over Roasted Duck skin laced with herbs and spices... and then while u chew.. the fresh green onion flavoured with salty and sweet sauce emerges to tantalize your tongue and refreshes it.... Its simply perfect....................
Thats not all... the meat of the duck could be fried or served as it is.. you can choose fried with black pepper, ginger slices or in any way you like it to be.
We choose black pepper and it taste really great.. The duck flesh is usually pretty blend however fried it taste savoury and great with a good bowl of rice.
2) Triple Egg Spinich... Theres Salted Egg, Normal Egg and Pee Dan... "Black Black Egg"
This dish I am particular picky.. because first.. its alot of calories to bet on... and second, its a pretty wierd combination. If not properly done.. will really taste wierd.. however, Tung Lok did it Pretty Welll or i suppose more then well done.
Spinish itself is tasteless and the normal egg provides the smoothness in this dish. It is not fully cooked and made the accompanying sauce smooth and easy to eat. Salted egg is of the right combination and blended in correctly with the egg whites cut into tiny pieces as the whites are really salty and york in slightly bigger pieces so the dish is not too SANDY... The century egg PEEDAN.. is well inculcated to produce the Zest like a little surprise in this dish.. A wonderfully balanced dish.. I personally like the way they made this dish.
Without further boring everybody with details, i shall say... the PRAWN is Yummy, crispy and Savoury, I can't get enough of those! Crispy Pork Belly was CRISPY, Not too Fat and easy to eat!
Lets now go straight to the desserts....
They have a good range of traditionally brewed desserts which is both healthy and makes skin glow with great complextion, so they say... Items like white fungus with red dates, Shue Ge, etc are rather slimming and soothes one's throat Its great to finish your meal with something sweet so that IT WILL BE COMPLETE.
Now for the ambience.... For a chinese restaurant, I would say this place is more then chic... It has traditional elements however embedded into modern fixtures... I love the way they have a good balance of both and still be able to portray rich culture in their designs. The Service was great.... Waiters and Waitress many with great smiles and attention to all tables. Reasonable waiting time for dishes and refilling of tea pots efficient.
Besides the price, I would say this is a great place to dine in.. Its above average I must say but its so WORTH IT!!!! A must go for celebrations... I mean who needs a reason to celebrate? Celebrate everyday and Thank God You're Still ALIVE......
Essy.. If you see this please provide the pictures of the yummy food...
Old Girls???
Over Grown???
Odd Garments???
Ordinary Garments???
Old Gone?
Ohh!!! Girls!!!
Think about it.....
I thought about it for a long while when being thrown this question and after a long thought with all the idiotic funny answers I can think off... finally my not so dumb friend told me the answer....
Are you Ready???
OG.... actually stands.. for .....................
Oriental Garments.....
Now you know why you can really find alot of Cheee Naaa Cheee Naaa stuffs in OG.. Its suppose to be ORIENTAL...... Talk about the CNY traditional chinese Cheong Sam, they have it... the more trendy Cheee Naa.... Clothes they have it.....
Its a total middle aged woman's HEAVEN..... Talk about retro... and with the Nonya BABA wave..... You can find them all in OG.....
However, the OG at orchard point here have a good balance of traditional and trendy stuffs. I mean... just look at the interior design of the shop..... Large Clear Glass panals with a good array of modern popular perfume and skin care counters.... Expensive Bags from Popular Brands such as Bonia, Guess, Renoma, etc... as well as a good range of men's wear from Crocodile to Alligator to Levis.... Etc....
Here you can find almost everything even Japanese tit-bits and famous cartoon imprinted food stuffs.. Kids will love it here with the wide array of popular toys both for children, youths and even board games for adults.
You can join them as a member now for no membership fees with only a combined receipt of SGD75. You will not only get membership exclusive discounts, there are also freebies for redemption and special purchases just for members. On top of these, redeem points for special exchanges. Prices i should say is pretty average. Its not super low like some warehouses, however, the special discounted items, sales and certain items are really very value for money, or somewhat cheaper then what you can get outside.
Also check out good, traditional, reliable and reasonable pricing household and kitchen wares. My mum used to buy from OG as, some of them comes with warranty as well as good sales persons to explain to you how to use these wares and preserve them for extended life span..
Its a great place for the whole family and not usually crowded..
It's interesting how eateries are named nowadays. Some allude to hidden references while others, like Everything with Fries, tells you straight up what to expect from the restaurant. Indulge in my lameness for a bit as I can't help but think that this cafe's name is in response to the "Would you like fries with that?" question. HAHA.
The eatery's stark white facade cuts a contrasting impression amongst the faded walls of its neighbours along Joo Chiat Road. Wait staff in pink tops and white shorts add to the overall "uplifting" ambience of the place. There is the problem of cramp spaces though. We got a seat next to the walkway and every time someone walked past, they had to squeeze their way in. Imagine someone's butt scraping past your table when you are eating. Definitely not a pleasant prospect.
Egg Soup - Apparently a signature and the only soup available on the menu, the one egg soup was essentially chicken broth with a slightly creamy texture and a sourish hint. The accompanying portion of deep fried whisked egg tasted a little like french toast sans the bread. Rather appetising I must say, especially with the addition of ground pepper.
Grilled Pork Chop - The pork chop's seasoning was quite good but probably a wee bit too flavourful for my liking. Grilling imbued it with a nice smoky taste but unfortunately the meat came across as a little too dry. And as the name of the eatery suggests, it came with a choice from a selection of fries (original, curry, salt and vinegar, sour cream and onion, garlic and herbs) as well as a salad, to balance out all that unhealthy stuff. I'm not too sure the fries were that fantastic though, nothing like my favourite fries from New York Fries.
Cheeseburger - My initial reaction upon seeing the burger was one of mild shock. The beef patty was probably only the size of 1.5 Macdonald patties, which is really quite small. Size aside, the texture of the patty was rather uneven, which probably means that it hasn't been machine processed. But I would have liked it a little juicier. The bun is purportedly made from scratch and I must say that I enjoyed it quite a bit. Light without being too dense and mildly sweet with a coating of butter, pan fried till lightly charred on the surface - very good!
Pear Tart - The nutella tart was sold out so we had to settle for the pear tart with an additional scoop of ice cream ( $1.80), which tasted suspiciously like Wall's ice cream. This dessert was a poor attempt at a tart in my humble opinion. The crust was suppose to be flaky but turned out rather elastic. And its a little odd if pear slices don't taste like pear. Overall still edible but don't expect much.
Dessert and cramp spaces aside, I must say that the meal was quite enjoyable, especially with the relatively economical price tag and chirpy service. I would definitely make it a point to return, but in the meantime, they might want to take a look into their table arrangement.
For the first time in many years, I ventured into Far East Plaza, known for its very fashionable stores and their wares. I hardly shop there as the clothes are rarely my style and I'm the sort to look for clothing suitable for work.
I stumbled onto this tiny shop tucked away on the entrance level (3rd floor). Small as it was it had plenty hanging on its racks. I took up some of the dresses and was amazed at the quality of the material used. The seams are also well done and the lining for each dress was well sewn.
My excited friend and I spent 3 hours at this shop trying on about 30 pieces of clothing. The salesgirl never once showed a face and volunteered more pieces to try. She gave her honest opinion when some dresses didn't fit too well and tried her best to understand our style, thus not pushing every single piece of clothing to us.
When some of the pieces we liked had an odd button or feature we didn't quite like, she offered to have them removed or altered for free. Any alteration (even tightening of waist areas) was offered for free. If it only required a shortening, it could be done immediately even.
What I liked most was the good quality for a reasonable price. One dress cost about $79 and cost me less than $70 after discount. I washed the dress when I got home and it didn't even require any ironing. Just hang straight and drip dry.
Another top I got cost $34 initially. The salesgirl noticed that there were some makeup stains on the white collar and she took the initiative to look for a new piece even when I didn't notice the stain. Then as there weren't any more pieces, she brought me a black one and told me that I still wanted the white one she would send it to the laundry and have it cleaned for free. How's that for service? That's not all. I told her that I could not afford the time to come down again any time soon and asked for a discount so that I could bring it to the laundromat myself. They agreed and let me have the blouse for $26 with an $8 discount which can easily cover the costs of having it washed.
When we left, it was really late and most of the shops at FEP were closed but they were still all smiles and actually called us by name. It's no wonder I saw a number of Tai-tais buying a large number of clothing from them within the time I was there!
I had always been under the impression that Crystal Jade Palace and Crystal Jade Golden Palace were one and the same restaurant. But a chance dining encounter at Crystal Jade Palace some weeks back proved otherwise.
Like its equally upscale sibling, Crystal Jade Palace boasts a tastefully designed interior that oozes contemporary Chinese chic at its store in Ngee Ann City. And what's surprising is that amidst the recession, the place was packed to the rafters by about 8pm. And you would think that such an upscale Chinese restaurant would see a decline in patronage.
Double Boiled Shark Bone Soup - The restaurant's shark bone soup was honestly not my cup of tea. It came across as way too milky for my liking and rather bland. And the sticking point was the thick layer of residue it left on my tongue.
Roasted Pork Belly - I'm a sucker for roasted pork belly and this one had crackling crisp skin above proportionately lean meat that wasn't too dry or salty. I would have loved to have seconds if not for my very strained wallet.
Roast Duck - The roast duck's skin wasn't crisp and there was a lingering fowl taste. Decent nonetheless but I've had way better and definitely not worth the 18 bucks.
Broccoli with Crab Roe - Tasty but the gravy was a little too starchy which made me nauseous after a bit. However, the serving of crab meat was generous and the broccoli, cooked just right, which more then made up for it. Best eaten with rice.
Deep Fried Ice Cream - Overinflated best describes the deep fried ice cream, which had a thin hot air inflated crust that looked and tasted like what you would find in goreng pisang. And within that crust lay a scoop of peach flavoured ice cream that seemed to be melting at an exponential speed. Decent.
Durian Pudding - Durian shreds embedded within smooth and chilled pudding that promised a glimpse of the real mccoy. What's not to like? However I prefer puree or real durian flesh anytime.
Dinner for 2 crossed the century mark at about $106. I am not sure that the quality of food commands such a high price tag and I definitely favour Golden Palace over this, even with the not too recent disappointment. Service is generally good but I sure didn't like the idea of sitting only about 30cm away from the next table.
Many of us go in search for our 15 minutes of fame in life and apparently you can get your 15 minutes in a newly opened cafe which goes by the name of 15 minutes. And with a tagline like Friends, Food, Fame, it doesn't leave much to the imagination.
The cafe is nestled within the premises of the modernly funky Lasalle and sports a certain chic and youthful vibe with its soaring windows that offer a view of the edgy campus and of course the stage where you are allowed your 15 minutes of fame. The cafe also has a rather interesting concept whereby upon placing your order, an RF device is allocated to you, which vibrates and emit red flashes to inform you that your food is ready for collection.
Kaya Muffin - Apparently the kaya muffin has been well raved about in the media but given what I had, I wasn't quite sure the muffin deserved the hype. Spongy but a little too dry with a funny smell. There was kaya in the center but I don't think it tastes any different from the ones I get in a tub at the supermarket. Overall a very mediocre muffin that I would expect to grab from any generic neighbourhood confectionery.
Chicken Avacado Linguine - The name of the dish intrigued me for I never had avacado with pasta before, especially with a cream based sauce. I was mildly disappointed though as it really didn't taste out of the ordinary. Sure, I could see little greenish blobs of avacado in the sauce but that's about it. Nothing special. Did I mention that the sauce was overly creamy and the pasta a wee bit too soft for my liking?
Banoffee - 15 minutes had a different take on this classic English dessert. There was no pastry or cream, just solid bananas in a toffee mixture with lots of crushed biscuits. Interesting but can be a little too dry and sticky.
I don't quite fancy the food but prices aren't expensive and I love the youthful exuberance the place emanates. Makes me feel young all over again. Now that's reason enough to go back, don't you think so?
Ever since I discover the existence of macarons, I’m hooked. There are some fantastic ones, while some are just very bad; macarons are lovable, how can something so small and petite, taste so, so good!
The most delicious way, to eat a macaron will be: admire her perfect figure, pick it up and smell her fragrance. Never shovel in and swallow the whole thing in one bite. It’s like foreplay, you need to arouse the palates first; you nibble a bit of it, and I finish it up the rest. Macarons, taste the best, when I share it with you.
The very pretty lady in raspberry winks at me as I walk over. Hello, can I buy you a dessert? Do you want chocolate fudge? Or how about some cheesecake? No? You want both? Okay sure, in that case I’ll get you the Raspberry Cheesecake ($7.50).
Rosemary Chantilly with a layer of raspberry jelly, adorns the top part of the cake. There’s cheesecake sandwiched in between, with the chocolate fudge layer completing the dessert. My only grudge? It tasted weird when everything is combined together, raspberry, cheesecake and chocolate fudge just do not works for me. But eaten separately, it’s good.
Having seen the Fondant Choccolat ($8), I happily/naturally assumed that it will be the type that has lava chocolate oozing out. Except, it did not. No chocolate lava. No warm chocolate oozing out from the middle. And oh, the fondant wasn’t heat up too.
Luckily there’s Chantilly. She is pleasant, sweet and makes everyone around happy.
Which one is the mousse and which one is the cream?
Dark chocolate, your love. I know you’ll have like this one. The flourless chocolate sponge increased the density of the chocolate, with the dark chocolate cream in between layers. And I like how they pretty things up with a spot of chocolate on top; simple and chic. Gateaux Chocolat ($6.50)
* * *
After so many times to Canele, I’ve yet to try out all their creations. Maybe some day, definitely one day.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
First time to the newly open Ion Orchard's Swensen outlet. So much had been heard about the place especially the ice cream buffet. (I will touch on that later), decided to meet up with my friends for dinner yesterday. Since the place is newly open, I would expect quite a crowd there and the place to be packed to brim during meal times. On a Monday night, I can say that the place is packed to the brim with a long queue outside as well.
When I was looking through the menu, the waiter was quite attentive, coming every 5 mins asking if we want to order. Seems that they added in a few local dishes but if I want to eat dishes like chicken rice, I am sure that Swensens is not the first place I will think of. For mains, we ordered the normal dishes such as Swesens's Combo, BBQ Half Chicken and Breaded Chicken. (All the fried stuff less the BBQ Chicken). For dessert, we decided to go for the ice cream buffet.
Have to say that the mains came out pretty fast, within 15 mins. However have to say the portion or the taste of the food leaves much to desire. The fries are soggy, the fried stuff are oily, no taste, seems like they are fried again food. Simply BAD! With the food on our table, we were not served our cutlery, I have to remind the waiter for it before he too realized that he forgot about it. He came back telling us that they had ran out of knives, instead he passed us some spoons. In short, even after we finished the mains, we never saw the light of the knives. Such a BIG restaurant but they ran out of knives. Hmm....... Meantime, the whole place is buzzing and the waiters were walking past our table every other minute, but to get their attention was such a difficult task.
Next was the ice cream buffet, seems like they got lots of ice cream and topping to offer, still have waffles, mini pancakes, both dark and white coco fondue with strawberries and marshmellows and some pies. Too bad one of the ice cream fridge is down, this means all the Gelatos are out, we have 15 less flavors to choose from. However the price of the ice cream buffet did not drop due to that. I am very very disappointed with the buffet. From very sour strawberries to lack of ice cream flavors, and the service of the crew tending the ice cream bar really needs to improve (a lot!).
From the initial excitement to major disappointment! There is only 1 thing I am going to say: I AM SO NOT GOING TO SWENSENS ANY TIME SOON!
In life we have dreams; they are our goals to work towards to, one step by one step, and approached it. I’ve always wanted to visit Spain; the country, with its rich culture and vibrant cities appeal to me, and of course, Spanish food.
I simply love the idea of Tapas; the option of having more variety of food in smaller bite sizes, seduces me. Why have two dishes when we can have four? And so our Spanish adventure started with the Plamuk tod ($12), tempura style calamari rings. Limon did a thinner version using less batter which allowed the taste of the squid. But the amazing thing was the strawberry yoghurt dip which came along with the calamari!
Tartar sauce? That’s so last season. Mayonnaise? That’s so passe. Try strawberry yoghurt dip!
Tapas has many similarities with our Chinese Dim sum; it’s the communal way of sharing food. Both encouraged people to try out more varieties, and at the same time shared the food with others. The Patatas bravas ($10) was essentially Spanish fried potatoes.
A little bit of this, plus a little bit of that
No I’m not talking about our saliva! We get to share food and try a bit of everything without getting full, isn’t that a brilliant idea? There’s no beef in the Moo curry ($12), instead there was pork & potato cubes pan-fried, with the red curry sauce being a tad strong.
How come the sausage tasted like brinjar?
It was hilarious when we mistook the eggplant for sausages at first bite, I’m never a fan of the purple plant. The fusion aspect was on display by preparing the Spanish Bibao (sausages) with Thai green curry sauce. Chorizo con curry verde ($14)
Honey, they shrunk the prawns!
I was sceptical when the “king prawns” that they’d mentioned was so tiny, but for what was lacking in size, the prawns more than made up in taste. The “tiny” creature was so prawny and crunchy! With ingredients like olive oil, lemongrass, black pepper, garlic, nameko mushroom; it was a mixture of flavours.
The Gazpacho con vino blanco ($12) was a traditional Spanish cold soup, with the novelty level upped by serving it in a baby coconut husk. The white wine flavour was subtle, but the experience of drinking soup was redefined into drinking coconut!
Paella. This was THE dish besides churros that I was looking forward to. And I had problem pronouncing it the whole night, so I came up with a simple way of remembering it, paella (my own pronunciation: Pie-ya). It was done with a Thai twist; incorporating tom-yum with the Spanish paella, there was plentiful of mixed seafood. It was delicious, every grain of rice tasted so good. Since I did not have paella before, there was no way I could make comparison, but it was good enough for me. And the tom-yum flavour wasn’t even strong (at least to me). Paella de tom yum ($20 for main size).
You like fish?
You will definitely love the Bacalao ($36)! The blue cod fillet was so fresh that it seemed alive on my plate, but I would prefer it to be slightly more pan-fried on the surface. Every piece of flesh was so delicate when our utensils touch it, oh baby, I’m gonna eat you up!
The lomo de cordero ($35) was a perfect sight to behold. There’s something about the Rack of lamb, which always make it so sexy! But somehow the ingredients like rosemary, oregano, mint, white wine, lemongrass sauce did not manage to cover the gamey taste.
Lobster, I love lobster! And I’m not going to share with you. No, get your hands off, it’s mine, it’s all mine! I was freaking excited when the Live lobster krapow ($38) arrived on our table. Every bite of the oven-baked lobster was so good, but there wasn’t enough meat for me! Taking a fork, I tilted the lobster head upside down, and dug at the shell beneath it, and yes, there was more lobster meat there!
On first look, I thought it was panna cotta, the Italian dessert. But it wasn’t. The dessert in picture was a Lemon caramel egg custard flan ($10). The texture was very similar to panna cotta, but I couldn’t quite figure out what was the difference.
And yes, I know chocolate cake has nothing to do with Spanish or Thai, but apparently the pastry chef at Limon does such a good chocolate cake that they decided to put it in the menu. And boy, it was true. The Homemade Chocolate cake ($9) paired with vanilla ice cream was a delight! If you could look at the plain chocolate cake up there, there’s the lava-flowing chocolate on top of the moist chocolate cake. Even though it was a pity there wasn’t any vanilla bean ice cream, but a scoop of cold icy one was enough to bring out the best of the chocolate cake.
I love to share food. But somehow the evil twin in me took over when we had the Crema Catalana con frescas ($10). There are times where you eat something that was so good, yet you couldn’t tell what it was, so you just ate, and ate, and ate. This was what I did, I took a spoonful of the egg based cream, put it in my mouth, and I couldn’t taste what it was. And the second bite became even better. So I simply took up the whole glass, dug, and dug further into, until the whole dessert was finished.
It was a medley of flavours when the Spaniards and the Thais come and play together. This was my first time trying Paella, and I’m glad I tried it! My appreciation to Towie, the owner of Limon, and Nicole for hosting us for the food tasting session.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
I visit MANY online blogshops and this is definitely one of my faves.
There are SOOOooO many reasons why!
They update often. About twice a week.
Packages arrive well-packed and are prompt. I have not experienced any delays. I also have not gotten any defected pieces from them despite buying from almost every collection.
Each update is done by a different owner. They have 3 owners who all have different tastes and different styles! So the great part is that each update has its own style and there'll be something to suit everyone!
Prices are very reasonable and the quality is good! However, there are one or two pieces which have to be handwashed and I'm soooo lazy.
The owners are very friendly. And on top of that they are customer-oriented. Payments had to be done within 24 hours. But there was once when my pet was very ill and I had to bring my pet to the doctor they were very understanding and waited for me! They even asked about my pet after. :) So sweet right?
They were even featured in the Straits Times National Day edition!
1=SGD 0.0587
Before I start reviewing.. I would like to thank Essy and VO man for buying me dinner at this very classy chinese restaurant with such tasty and elegant looking food.........
Lets start with my favourite dishes...
1) Peking Duck
Its really half a duck... Skin so crispy and juicy... I mean who can resist peking duck... Wrap the crispy skin with fluffy thin skin, lace on some thick savoury sauce add on a fresh green onions stalks... You're ready to go....The first bite was all crunch and flavour from the Over Roasted Duck skin laced with herbs and spices... and then while u chew.. the fresh green onion flavoured with salty and sweet sauce emerges to tantalize your tongue and refreshes it.... Its simply perfect....................
Thats not all... the meat of the duck could be fried or served as it is.. you can choose fried with black pepper, ginger slices or in any way you like it to be.
We choose black pepper and it taste really great.. The duck flesh is usually pretty blend however fried it taste savoury and great with a good bowl of rice.
2) Triple Egg Spinich... Theres Salted Egg, Normal Egg and Pee Dan... "Black Black Egg"
This dish I am particular picky.. because first.. its alot of calories to bet on... and second, its a pretty wierd combination. If not properly done.. will really taste wierd.. however, Tung Lok did it Pretty Welll or i suppose more then well done.
Spinish itself is tasteless and the normal egg provides the smoothness in this dish. It is not fully cooked and made the accompanying sauce smooth and easy to eat. Salted egg is of the right combination and blended in correctly with the egg whites cut into tiny pieces as the whites are really salty and york in slightly bigger pieces so the dish is not too SANDY... The century egg PEEDAN.. is well inculcated to produce the Zest like a little surprise in this dish.. A wonderfully balanced dish.. I personally like the way they made this dish.
Without further boring everybody with details, i shall say... the PRAWN is Yummy, crispy and Savoury, I can't get enough of those! Crispy Pork Belly was CRISPY, Not too Fat and easy to eat!
Lets now go straight to the desserts....
They have a good range of traditionally brewed desserts which is both healthy and makes skin glow with great complextion, so they say... Items like white fungus with red dates, Shue Ge, etc are rather slimming and soothes one's throat Its great to finish your meal with something sweet so that IT WILL BE COMPLETE.
Now for the ambience.... For a chinese restaurant, I would say this place is more then chic... It has traditional elements however embedded into modern fixtures... I love the way they have a good balance of both and still be able to portray rich culture in their designs. The Service was great.... Waiters and Waitress many with great smiles and attention to all tables. Reasonable waiting time for dishes and refilling of tea pots efficient.
Besides the price, I would say this is a great place to dine in.. Its above average I must say but its so WORTH IT!!!! A must go for celebrations... I mean who needs a reason to celebrate? Celebrate everyday and Thank God You're Still ALIVE......
Essy.. If you see this please provide the pictures of the yummy food...
Rating given:
Have you ever wondered WHAT DOES OG Stands For???
Come on.... Make a Guess!!!!
Old Girls???
Over Grown???
Odd Garments???
Ordinary Garments???
Old Gone?
Ohh!!! Girls!!!
Think about it.....
I thought about it for a long while when being thrown this question and after a long thought with all the idiotic funny answers I can think off... finally my not so dumb friend told me the answer....
Are you Ready???
OG.... actually stands.. for .....................
Oriental Garments.....
Now you know why you can really find alot of Cheee Naaa Cheee Naaa stuffs in OG.. Its suppose to be ORIENTAL...... Talk about the CNY traditional chinese Cheong Sam, they have it... the more trendy Cheee Naa.... Clothes they have it.....
Its a total middle aged woman's HEAVEN..... Talk about retro... and with the Nonya BABA wave..... You can find them all in OG.....
However, the OG at orchard point here have a good balance of traditional and trendy stuffs. I mean... just look at the interior design of the shop..... Large Clear Glass panals with a good array of modern popular perfume and skin care counters.... Expensive Bags from Popular Brands such as Bonia, Guess, Renoma, etc... as well as a good range of men's wear from Crocodile to Alligator to Levis.... Etc....
Here you can find almost everything even Japanese tit-bits and famous cartoon imprinted food stuffs.. Kids will love it here with the wide array of popular toys both for children, youths and even board games for adults.
You can join them as a member now for no membership fees with only a combined receipt of SGD75. You will not only get membership exclusive discounts, there are also freebies for redemption and special purchases just for members. On top of these, redeem points for special exchanges. Prices i should say is pretty average. Its not super low like some warehouses, however, the special discounted items, sales and certain items are really very value for money, or somewhat cheaper then what you can get outside.
Also check out good, traditional, reliable and reasonable pricing household and kitchen wares. My mum used to buy from OG as, some of them comes with warranty as well as good sales persons to explain to you how to use these wares and preserve them for extended life span..
Its a great place for the whole family and not usually crowded..
Rating given:
It's interesting how eateries are named nowadays. Some allude to hidden references while others, like Everything with Fries, tells you straight up what to expect from the restaurant. Indulge in my lameness for a bit as I can't help but think that this cafe's name is in response to the "Would you like fries with that?" question. HAHA.
The eatery's stark white facade cuts a contrasting impression amongst the faded walls of its neighbours along Joo Chiat Road. Wait staff in pink tops and white shorts add to the overall "uplifting" ambience of the place. There is the problem of cramp spaces though. We got a seat next to the walkway and every time someone walked past, they had to squeeze their way in. Imagine someone's butt scraping past your table when you are eating. Definitely not a pleasant prospect.
Egg Soup - Apparently a signature and the only soup available on the menu, the one egg soup was essentially chicken broth with a slightly creamy texture and a sourish hint. The accompanying portion of deep fried whisked egg tasted a little like french toast sans the bread. Rather appetising I must say, especially with the addition of ground pepper.
Grilled Pork Chop - The pork chop's seasoning was quite good but probably a wee bit too flavourful for my liking. Grilling imbued it with a nice smoky taste but unfortunately the meat came across as a little too dry. And as the name of the eatery suggests, it came with a choice from a selection of fries (original, curry, salt and vinegar, sour cream and onion, garlic and herbs) as well as a salad, to balance out all that unhealthy stuff. I'm not too sure the fries were that fantastic though, nothing like my favourite fries from New York Fries.
Cheeseburger - My initial reaction upon seeing the burger was one of mild shock. The beef patty was probably only the size of 1.5 Macdonald patties, which is really quite small. Size aside, the texture of the patty was rather uneven, which probably means that it hasn't been machine processed. But I would have liked it a little juicier. The bun is purportedly made from scratch and I must say that I enjoyed it quite a bit. Light without being too dense and mildly sweet with a coating of butter, pan fried till lightly charred on the surface - very good!
Pear Tart - The nutella tart was sold out so we had to settle for the pear tart with an additional scoop of ice cream ( $1.80), which tasted suspiciously like Wall's ice cream. This dessert was a poor attempt at a tart in my humble opinion. The crust was suppose to be flaky but turned out rather elastic. And its a little odd if pear slices don't taste like pear. Overall still edible but don't expect much.
Dessert and cramp spaces aside, I must say that the meal was quite enjoyable, especially with the relatively economical price tag and chirpy service. I would definitely make it a point to return, but in the meantime, they might want to take a look into their table arrangement.
See all my pictures here.
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For the first time in many years, I ventured into Far East Plaza, known for its very fashionable stores and their wares. I hardly shop there as the clothes are rarely my style and I'm the sort to look for clothing suitable for work.
I stumbled onto this tiny shop tucked away on the entrance level (3rd floor). Small as it was it had plenty hanging on its racks. I took up some of the dresses and was amazed at the quality of the material used. The seams are also well done and the lining for each dress was well sewn.
My excited friend and I spent 3 hours at this shop trying on about 30 pieces of clothing. The salesgirl never once showed a face and volunteered more pieces to try. She gave her honest opinion when some dresses didn't fit too well and tried her best to understand our style, thus not pushing every single piece of clothing to us.
When some of the pieces we liked had an odd button or feature we didn't quite like, she offered to have them removed or altered for free. Any alteration (even tightening of waist areas) was offered for free. If it only required a shortening, it could be done immediately even.
What I liked most was the good quality for a reasonable price. One dress cost about $79 and cost me less than $70 after discount. I washed the dress when I got home and it didn't even require any ironing. Just hang straight and drip dry.
Another top I got cost $34 initially. The salesgirl noticed that there were some makeup stains on the white collar and she took the initiative to look for a new piece even when I didn't notice the stain. Then as there weren't any more pieces, she brought me a black one and told me that I still wanted the white one she would send it to the laundry and have it cleaned for free. How's that for service? That's not all. I told her that I could not afford the time to come down again any time soon and asked for a discount so that I could bring it to the laundromat myself. They agreed and let me have the blouse for $26 with an $8 discount which can easily cover the costs of having it washed.
When we left, it was really late and most of the shops at FEP were closed but they were still all smiles and actually called us by name. It's no wonder I saw a number of Tai-tais buying a large number of clothing from them within the time I was there!
I'm planning to go again!
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I had always been under the impression that Crystal Jade Palace and Crystal Jade Golden Palace were one and the same restaurant. But a chance dining encounter at Crystal Jade Palace some weeks back proved otherwise.
Like its equally upscale sibling, Crystal Jade Palace boasts a tastefully designed interior that oozes contemporary Chinese chic at its store in Ngee Ann City. And what's surprising is that amidst the recession, the place was packed to the rafters by about 8pm. And you would think that such an upscale Chinese restaurant would see a decline in patronage.
Double Boiled Shark Bone Soup - The restaurant's shark bone soup was honestly not my cup of tea. It came across as way too milky for my liking and rather bland. And the sticking point was the thick layer of residue it left on my tongue.
Roasted Pork Belly - I'm a sucker for roasted pork belly and this one had crackling crisp skin above proportionately lean meat that wasn't too dry or salty. I would have loved to have seconds if not for my very strained wallet.
Roast Duck - The roast duck's skin wasn't crisp and there was a lingering fowl taste. Decent nonetheless but I've had way better and definitely not worth the 18 bucks.
Broccoli with Crab Roe - Tasty but the gravy was a little too starchy which made me nauseous after a bit. However, the serving of crab meat was generous and the broccoli, cooked just right, which more then made up for it. Best eaten with rice.
Deep Fried Ice Cream - Overinflated best describes the deep fried ice cream, which had a thin hot air inflated crust that looked and tasted like what you would find in goreng pisang. And within that crust lay a scoop of peach flavoured ice cream that seemed to be melting at an exponential speed. Decent.
Durian Pudding - Durian shreds embedded within smooth and chilled pudding that promised a glimpse of the real mccoy. What's not to like? However I prefer puree or real durian flesh anytime.
Dinner for 2 crossed the century mark at about $106. I am not sure that the quality of food commands such a high price tag and I definitely favour Golden Palace over this, even with the not too recent disappointment. Service is generally good but I sure didn't like the idea of sitting only about 30cm away from the next table.
See all my pictures here.
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Many of us go in search for our 15 minutes of fame in life and apparently you can get your 15 minutes in a newly opened cafe which goes by the name of 15 minutes. And with a tagline like Friends, Food, Fame, it doesn't leave much to the imagination.
The cafe is nestled within the premises of the modernly funky Lasalle and sports a certain chic and youthful vibe with its soaring windows that offer a view of the edgy campus and of course the stage where you are allowed your 15 minutes of fame. The cafe also has a rather interesting concept whereby upon placing your order, an RF device is allocated to you, which vibrates and emit red flashes to inform you that your food is ready for collection.
Kaya Muffin - Apparently the kaya muffin has been well raved about in the media but given what I had, I wasn't quite sure the muffin deserved the hype. Spongy but a little too dry with a funny smell. There was kaya in the center but I don't think it tastes any different from the ones I get in a tub at the supermarket. Overall a very mediocre muffin that I would expect to grab from any generic neighbourhood confectionery.
Chicken Avacado Linguine - The name of the dish intrigued me for I never had avacado with pasta before, especially with a cream based sauce. I was mildly disappointed though as it really didn't taste out of the ordinary. Sure, I could see little greenish blobs of avacado in the sauce but that's about it. Nothing special. Did I mention that the sauce was overly creamy and the pasta a wee bit too soft for my liking?
Banoffee - 15 minutes had a different take on this classic English dessert. There was no pastry or cream, just solid bananas in a toffee mixture with lots of crushed biscuits. Interesting but can be a little too dry and sticky.
I don't quite fancy the food but prices aren't expensive and I love the youthful exuberance the place emanates. Makes me feel young all over again. Now that's reason enough to go back, don't you think so?
See all my pictures here
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Ever since I discover the existence of macarons, I’m hooked. There are some fantastic ones, while some are just very bad; macarons are lovable, how can something so small and petite, taste so, so good!
The most delicious way, to eat a macaron will be: admire her perfect figure, pick it up and smell her fragrance. Never shovel in and swallow the whole thing in one bite. It’s like foreplay, you need to arouse the palates first; you nibble a bit of it, and I finish it up the rest. Macarons, taste the best, when I share it with you.
The very pretty lady in raspberry winks at me as I walk over. Hello, can I buy you a dessert? Do you want chocolate fudge? Or how about some cheesecake? No? You want both? Okay sure, in that case I’ll get you the Raspberry Cheesecake ($7.50).
Rosemary Chantilly with a layer of raspberry jelly, adorns the top part of the cake. There’s cheesecake sandwiched in between, with the chocolate fudge layer completing the dessert. My only grudge? It tasted weird when everything is combined together, raspberry, cheesecake and chocolate fudge just do not works for me. But eaten separately, it’s good.
Having seen the Fondant Choccolat ($8), I happily/naturally assumed that it will be the type that has lava chocolate oozing out. Except, it did not. No chocolate lava. No warm chocolate oozing out from the middle. And oh, the fondant wasn’t heat up too.
Luckily there’s Chantilly. She is pleasant, sweet and makes everyone around happy.
Which one is the mousse and which one is the cream?
Dark chocolate, your love. I know you’ll have like this one. The flourless chocolate sponge increased the density of the chocolate, with the dark chocolate cream in between layers. And I like how they pretty things up with a spot of chocolate on top; simple and chic. Gateaux Chocolat ($6.50)
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After so many times to Canele, I’ve yet to try out all their creations. Maybe some day, definitely one day.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
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First time to the newly open Ion Orchard's Swensen outlet. So much had been heard about the place especially the ice cream buffet. (I will touch on that later), decided to meet up with my friends for dinner yesterday. Since the place is newly open, I would expect quite a crowd there and the place to be packed to brim during meal times. On a Monday night, I can say that the place is packed to the brim with a long queue outside as well.
When I was looking through the menu, the waiter was quite attentive, coming every 5 mins asking if we want to order. Seems that they added in a few local dishes but if I want to eat dishes like chicken rice, I am sure that Swensens is not the first place I will think of. For mains, we ordered the normal dishes such as Swesens's Combo, BBQ Half Chicken and Breaded Chicken. (All the fried stuff less the BBQ Chicken). For dessert, we decided to go for the ice cream buffet.
Have to say that the mains came out pretty fast, within 15 mins. However have to say the portion or the taste of the food leaves much to desire. The fries are soggy, the fried stuff are oily, no taste, seems like they are fried again food. Simply BAD! With the food on our table, we were not served our cutlery, I have to remind the waiter for it before he too realized that he forgot about it. He came back telling us that they had ran out of knives, instead he passed us some spoons. In short, even after we finished the mains, we never saw the light of the knives. Such a BIG restaurant but they ran out of knives. Hmm....... Meantime, the whole place is buzzing and the waiters were walking past our table every other minute, but to get their attention was such a difficult task.
Next was the ice cream buffet, seems like they got lots of ice cream and topping to offer, still have waffles, mini pancakes, both dark and white coco fondue with strawberries and marshmellows and some pies. Too bad one of the ice cream fridge is down, this means all the Gelatos are out, we have 15 less flavors to choose from. However the price of the ice cream buffet did not drop due to that. I am very very disappointed with the buffet. From very sour strawberries to lack of ice cream flavors, and the service of the crew tending the ice cream bar really needs to improve (a lot!).
From the initial excitement to major disappointment! There is only 1 thing I am going to say: I AM SO NOT GOING TO SWENSENS ANY TIME SOON!
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In life we have dreams; they are our goals to work towards to, one step by one step, and approached it. I’ve always wanted to visit Spain; the country, with its rich culture and vibrant cities appeal to me, and of course, Spanish food.
I simply love the idea of Tapas; the option of having more variety of food in smaller bite sizes, seduces me. Why have two dishes when we can have four? And so our Spanish adventure started with the Plamuk tod ($12), tempura style calamari rings. Limon did a thinner version using less batter which allowed the taste of the squid. But the amazing thing was the strawberry yoghurt dip which came along with the calamari!
Tartar sauce? That’s so last season. Mayonnaise? That’s so passe. Try strawberry yoghurt dip!
Tapas has many similarities with our Chinese Dim sum; it’s the communal way of sharing food. Both encouraged people to try out more varieties, and at the same time shared the food with others. The Patatas bravas ($10) was essentially Spanish fried potatoes.
A little bit of this, plus a little bit of that
No I’m not talking about our saliva! We get to share food and try a bit of everything without getting full, isn’t that a brilliant idea? There’s no beef in the Moo curry ($12), instead there was pork & potato cubes pan-fried, with the red curry sauce being a tad strong.
How come the sausage tasted like brinjar?
It was hilarious when we mistook the eggplant for sausages at first bite, I’m never a fan of the purple plant. The fusion aspect was on display by preparing the Spanish Bibao (sausages) with Thai green curry sauce. Chorizo con curry verde ($14)
Honey, they shrunk the prawns!
I was sceptical when the “king prawns” that they’d mentioned was so tiny, but for what was lacking in size, the prawns more than made up in taste. The “tiny” creature was so prawny and crunchy! With ingredients like olive oil, lemongrass, black pepper, garlic, nameko mushroom; it was a mixture of flavours.
The Gazpacho con vino blanco ($12) was a traditional Spanish cold soup, with the novelty level upped by serving it in a baby coconut husk. The white wine flavour was subtle, but the experience of drinking soup was redefined into drinking coconut!
Paella. This was THE dish besides churros that I was looking forward to. And I had problem pronouncing it the whole night, so I came up with a simple way of remembering it, paella (my own pronunciation: Pie-ya). It was done with a Thai twist; incorporating tom-yum with the Spanish paella, there was plentiful of mixed seafood. It was delicious, every grain of rice tasted so good. Since I did not have paella before, there was no way I could make comparison, but it was good enough for me. And the tom-yum flavour wasn’t even strong (at least to me). Paella de tom yum ($20 for main size).
You like fish?
You will definitely love the Bacalao ($36)! The blue cod fillet was so fresh that it seemed alive on my plate, but I would prefer it to be slightly more pan-fried on the surface. Every piece of flesh was so delicate when our utensils touch it, oh baby, I’m gonna eat you up!
The lomo de cordero ($35) was a perfect sight to behold. There’s something about the Rack of lamb, which always make it so sexy! But somehow the ingredients like rosemary, oregano, mint, white wine, lemongrass sauce did not manage to cover the gamey taste.
Lobster, I love lobster! And I’m not going to share with you. No, get your hands off, it’s mine, it’s all mine! I was freaking excited when the Live lobster krapow ($38) arrived on our table. Every bite of the oven-baked lobster was so good, but there wasn’t enough meat for me! Taking a fork, I tilted the lobster head upside down, and dug at the shell beneath it, and yes, there was more lobster meat there!
On first look, I thought it was panna cotta, the Italian dessert. But it wasn’t. The dessert in picture was a Lemon caramel egg custard flan ($10). The texture was very similar to panna cotta, but I couldn’t quite figure out what was the difference.
And yes, I know chocolate cake has nothing to do with Spanish or Thai, but apparently the pastry chef at Limon does such a good chocolate cake that they decided to put it in the menu. And boy, it was true. The Homemade Chocolate cake ($9) paired with vanilla ice cream was a delight! If you could look at the plain chocolate cake up there, there’s the lava-flowing chocolate on top of the moist chocolate cake. Even though it was a pity there wasn’t any vanilla bean ice cream, but a scoop of cold icy one was enough to bring out the best of the chocolate cake.
I love to share food. But somehow the evil twin in me took over when we had the Crema Catalana con frescas ($10). There are times where you eat something that was so good, yet you couldn’t tell what it was, so you just ate, and ate, and ate. This was what I did, I took a spoonful of the egg based cream, put it in my mouth, and I couldn’t taste what it was. And the second bite became even better. So I simply took up the whole glass, dug, and dug further into, until the whole dessert was finished.
It was a medley of flavours when the Spaniards and the Thais come and play together. This was my first time trying Paella, and I’m glad I tried it! My appreciation to Towie, the owner of Limon, and Nicole for hosting us for the food tasting session.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
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I visit MANY online blogshops and this is definitely one of my faves.
There are SOOOooO many reasons why!
They update often. About twice a week.
Packages arrive well-packed and are prompt. I have not experienced any delays. I also have not gotten any defected pieces from them despite buying from almost every collection.
Each update is done by a different owner. They have 3 owners who all have different tastes and different styles! So the great part is that each update has its own style and there'll be something to suit everyone!
Prices are very reasonable and the quality is good! However, there are one or two pieces which have to be handwashed and I'm soooo lazy.
The owners are very friendly. And on top of that they are customer-oriented. Payments had to be done within 24 hours. But there was once when my pet was very ill and I had to bring my pet to the doctor they were very understanding and waited for me! They even asked about my pet after. :) So sweet right?
They were even featured in the Straits Times National Day edition!
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