This is indeed another of my favourite hangout... I mean don't you just love walking the departmental stores.. They display an array of goods especially chosen to suit your needs from your head to your toes all the way into your tummy and your bed where you spend 1/3 of your life snuggling in...
I always love the comprehensive list of items Tangs have and each items comes in different shades of colours with so many designs, brands, materials and sizes to choose from. I particularly love to walk the bag section... Which is the first section you enter.. there you can see the helpful staffs waiting to serve you.. I mean.. its difficult to find helpful staffs in departmental stores... They are always hiding somewhere talking or resting.. I mean its tough standing all day but isn't it the goal of the job to serve your customers till they happily leave the store?
Anyway, back to the Bags... They carry a good number of brands and while walking the colourful bag section you could see the brightly lit skin care and perfume section. Here you can find all sorts of international brands in which you could lavishly try the scents till you find one of your delight. Walking on you can find the man's sections with assortments of leather belts, ties and shoes with various Macho Designs as well as young and colourful young Punks dressing as well as travel bags of all sizes to suit all your travel needs. The watch section i particularly enjoy browsing through the different brands and shiny glass cases.
Upstairs you can find kitchen appliances, accessories as well as bedding needs... I particular like the fact that theres a mini honey corner where you can buy all sorts of products to please your HONEY as well as a mini chinese medicated tea shop to soothe the heatiness...
Also check out the Lifestyle section where they display these crystal clear audio CDs of old fashioned songs... Wo de bu dao ni de ai qing......
Also.. It pays to be a member as they do have closed door sales and on top of the sales items, you do get rebates up to 12% on all your purchase. Best of it all... Even if you redeem your tangs dollars you could still get rebate on the balance you paid.. Its a great place to go with savings out of my imagination...
The beautiful, each piece: Oh-so-dainty, Oh-so-refine. Almost like art, delicately crafted.
O’ my dear, I love you so. Never in my heart, I stopped thinking of you. Miss sushi, and Miss tapas: both seemed to be more popular than you, but I will always put you in the first place.
It was big, no, huge! This was, one of the many, different renditions of har gau we would see today. Essentially a har gau without the skin; the crab meat dumpling. It was prawny, with a nice bite - but crabby (no pun intended) it was not, well who cares?
Rather than an-overly-thick-skin, give me a dumpling without skin.
The well-admired Steamed Prawn Dumplings had an injection of carrot purée which only served to beautify the appearance of the har gau skin.
“We protested! We protested!”
The purist camp did a demonstration on the streets, crying for the restoration of the conventional har gau which they were so used to. But for the ladies; the boost in vitamin A. What was missing however, was the carrot taste.
The novelty. The inclusion of preserved vegetables was a brilliant stroke of art; the saltiness enhanced the flavour of the pork, which brought us to the question: why didn’t anybody thought of this before? Steamed pork dumpling with preserved vegetables, siew mai.
Now this was a not-so-simple bun that was bound to turn heads. Served piping hot, the bun seemed quite insignificant until you took a bite at it. Immediately, you would realize that you just had something very special. The bun itself was soft, fluffy and light as a feather while the fillings were so, so sweet and juicy. The Steamed kurobuta char siew pork fluffy bao, was the winner for the day.
The humble har gau did an open-faced sandwich; with shark’s fin on top. Luxury, it was, wealth, it symbolized, and prestige, it presented. Sorry sharky! Steamed shark’s fin dumplings with dried scallops and shrimp.
The tinge of pink, at the top of the tri-top; pretty and so pretty. Another piece of art we seen, at the gallery of Cherry Garden. However, the Scallop and spinach crystal dumpling did came across as slightly dry.
Truffled Essence Crystal Dumplings stuffed with Assorted Fresh Mushrooms. This, was a beauty; the translucent skin, the jelly texture, the array of mushrooms, almost perfect - but it was too large!
Prawn was the main lead, and mango was the second lead. There was the accompany of the green, hot wasabi! Netted rice crispy turnover. I held you, in my arms, into the late wee wee hour: without the wasabi! My dear, the netted rice crispy turnover.
And there was the famous XLB. The voluptuous folds, the goodness of the soup stock, everything, gushing out.
Like a peacock spreading his feathers, the netted rice crispy did a peacock effect: it caught everybody’s attention. Oh my, so beautiful, was this meant to be eaten?
And oh wait, there’s something hiding below the feathers; the netted rice crispy I meant. Ah, that’s the pan-fried chives and chicken dumplings!
Unfortunately, I was not a big fan of chives - I would leave the taste of the dumpling to your own imagination. This was, a piece of art! Why don’t we turn it upside down?
This was the umpteenth time we had a make-over of the har gau, they called it, Steamed Chinese spinach dumplings. The spinach, provided the lovely lines, just like how a painting adorned the wall. The egg yolk, provided the oomph, so, so good.
This, was a poisonous pear, for snow white. The wicked witch threw in some pumpkin, a pinch of jicama, stirred stirred, mixed mixed, and finally, some vegetarian ham.
Poof! With a wave of her wand, the deep-fried potato “pear” appeared. Crispy texture checked, mesmerizing appearance checked, vegetarian (snow white is on a diet) checked. Sticky innards (to stick the mouth together) checked. Everything was present, and OH, where’s the poison?
And we took a plunge, into the deep, deep blue sea. From the land to the sea, the Symphony of live pacific grouper prepared in three different ways. The first: we have a soup, grouper fish broth with ginger, onion and Silken tofu.
Steamed grouper crystal fish dumpling. Was this a dim sum, or was this a fish? It was both, with a twist. Brilliant it was, bravo we shouted. Grouper fish meat inside a dumpling of the fish skin. It was beautiful, too beautiful to eat.
It was not all smooth-sailing, nothing was. As much as I loved the creativity, there was a snag. The use of fish skin, for the translucent was great for the eyes, but not for the mouth. It was chewy, and slightly fishy: non fish lovers, would say, no no!
Prawn and pork, were absent. I give you fish, fish for dim sum. The very first, I believed. Let there be more, say fish siew mai? This, surely, would be a great day for all the fish lovers.
One price, one fish, for the value of three. Worthy, indeed. Sautéed grouper fillet with asparagus, no parts of the fish were wasted, from the meat, to the skin.
I have always wanted to go to Cherry Garden. And I’m glad I finally did. It was a feast, for the visual senses. The dim sum, so delicately craft piece by piece, was an art, for all to enjoyed. Creativity was certainly in the air, the adventurous use of different ingredients, the details to attention for the tiniest things, the emphasize of making it look as good as it tasted. I’m sold. Praises, have to be reserved for the savvy and charismatic executive Chinese chef, Mr Hiew Gun Khong.
Cherry Garden has the weekend dim sum ala carte buffet at $45 per head, which has a selections of 20 over dim sum, and other Chinese food as well. My appreciation to Kelly, the PR relations manager for hosting us, and Cuisine & Wine Asia for the invitation.
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!
This place is more like being called the Pets Safari however the anchor outlet of Pet Lovers Centre. Here, you can find everything you need for every kind of your pet. Be it the cute little puppy, meowie cat, small hamsters or even pet goldfish... They have everything to suit everybody's needs.
The cages come in many trendy designs and colours as well as sizes for adult german sheperds down to the smallest hamster carrier, not forgetting the handy sling tank.. Now you can bring your fishes for pet walks :).....
All sorts of food, treats and vitamin supplements are available for your pet... Fully Edible Toy Houses made from organic and dye free materials for the comfort of your small hamsters.... I mean they really do have a wide range of everything. Take rabbit food for example, they have various kinds of pallets and hays for their staple food and treats including the carrot lookalike vitamin supplied toy carrot that could last you for at least a week. On top of that your pet rabbit's teeth will be nice and trimmed after playing with that toy...
If your dog's is having a bad hair and is feeling depressed because of that, you could bring him to the grooming centre in this outlet and your babe will appear looking cool with a nice hairstyle and confident to attract new friends.
If you don't have a pet.. You could buy one here... They have small animals such as hamsters of various species, rabbits so fat you can cuddle them, guinea pigs so fluffy you can't wait to bring one home. If you prefer something bigger.. Check out the puppies on sale.. They are so adorable, I just can't stand the doggie eyes they give me.. You can ask the friendly staff to let you carry them for a while.. Bond for awhile before you decide if you want to buy them.. However.. Its important never to buy on IMPULSE... Taking care of a pet is a pretty time consuming activity... Unlike buying a car or the Wii when you can ignore them when you have no time or don't feel like it.. Getting a pet is commiting yourself to taking care of them :)
You could join Pet Lovers Centre's membership to get a 10 to 15% discount on everything except live animals... Sometimes they do have some other member perks which can be useful... I love this shop as the staff are so friendly and helpful to attend to my every need. Most importantly, the 'bad hair day' guinea pigs are only going for $80 for one and i'm definitely looking for a girlfriend for my darling 'CASH!'
However I am sad about one thing.. There's no place at vivo for the pets to wander about.... I've been to many countries and even in countries like taiwan, they allow their pets in the mall.. as long as you could handcarry them or put them in a pram.. they are fine... Even in malls like our PARAGON / KLCC kind.. people bring their full grown overweight golden retriever for lunch at the food court with them... Its something I hope we could get there soon....
Meanwhile, enjoy your walk in pets safari which by the way is next to the DaiSo... It could be really educational for your children too...
60. The number could refer to almost anything; age, weight, people, money, time - Si Chuan Dou Hua restaurant on the sixty level of UOB plaza. 100 - a century figure of dishes at weekend lunch, offering dim sum, tea and Szechuan cuisine. 38.8 - the unbeatable price of under forty dollars. Numbers are magic: they tell a thousand things too.
The kidney, I have to say, was lovely: chewy and pinkish-coloured, swelled-looking, with the clever use of spices covered the porky smell which made so many people avoided the delicious pig kidney.
The question of authenticity popped up during the tasting session, and Linda the director of SCDH was quick to point out although there were some minor tweaks of the dishes to suit local palates, the Chilled chicken in spicy bean paste was done exactly like the Szechuan favourite. The spicy bean paste caused a storm; hot, fiery, and simply so Szechuan!
SCDH served us many cold dishes for starters, and the Sliced beef and tripe in chilli sauce was one of them.
At first glance, it was not difficult to mistaken the Sliced duck in Teow chew style for the more commonly seen drunken chicken. Thinly sliced, I could never resist duck meat!
This one caught me by surprise - the crispy chicken puff. I wasn’t expecting something so, small and tiny, to be so good. The crispy fried skin had chicken within: it was a reminiscent of cream puff, except the pastry was fried instead of baked, and the fillings were chicken instead of cream.
Perfect. One of the best carrot cake I’ve had; every bite was flavourful with radish. The only correct thing to make a good carrot cake is to just add more radish, it’s so simple, yet many fail to get the gist of it.
The purist would protest at the sight of the Steamed siew mai with quill egg. The additional of quill egg was an innovation, and credits had to be given to the chefs for experimenting with different ingredients.
No, it definitely wasn’t St Valentine’s the last time I checked. Nonetheless, the heart shape was pretty enough to gorge at - Pan-fried shredded yam pancake with waxed meat.
I ain’t a big fan of mince meat balls, but the Steamed beef balls with seasonal vegetables won me over with the chewy and bouncy texture.
I eyed the golden dumpling, not knowing what to do. Should I, or should I not? I took up my pair of chopsticks, and dove right in, secretly praying in my heart: Sharky, rest in peace, you’d not die in vain. Steamed shark’s fin and chicken dumpling.
Despite the scary-looking-thick-oily-layer of chilli, the Dumpling with chilli oil was surprisingly, not that spicy. I had called the fire brigade to be prepared to put out any fire, and after one tiny nibble of the dumpling, it was safe. And I ate some more, of the thick and generous filling, which almost busted out of the dumpling skin.
This one was interesting. The Pan-fried fish pancake with parsley, the crispy firm pastry-like texture was evident, but I couldn’t quite make out what actually constituted in the fish pancake.
For the best creative award, I presented to you the, Pan-fried sweet corn pancake. The inclusion of sweet corn in a dim sum was a first for me: needless to say, it worked. The sweet corn, like its name, enhanced the sweetness of the pancake.
The Steamed prawn dumpling, or Har gau, had fresh succulent prawns, but I found the skin slightly too thick from what I had in mind.
Instead of the streetfood in Szechuan, SCDH decided to upmarket the Fried pumpkin cake by scoring on presentation and refining it. The delicate-lovely-looking miniature pumpkin; it was too pretty to eat.
If there was one memorable dish I had to choose from SCDH, it had to be the Steamed lotus paste bun with egg yolk. The egg yolk within the lotus bun, oh my. It was indescribable. The combination of lotus paste and egg yolk, was akin to mooncake, with a bun skin.
Balancing my chopsticks, I took a glance at the noodles. This should be easy, I thought. I grabbed some noodles using my less-than-perfect chopstick skills, and slurped the tan tan noodle. The world seemed to froze in time; I took another mouthful of noodles, putting in as much as my mouth would fit. The noodles, how should I put it: bouncy, springy, smooth, well it seems my vocabulary would be exhausted soon. It was good!
We had the following desserts: herbal jelly, mango & pamelo cream, glutinous rice with coconut milk, almond cream with fungus, chilled strawberry jelly, chilled coconut & jackfruit cream, red bean paste with lotus seed, and yam paste with ginko nuts.
Si Chuan Dou Hua has certainly opened up my narrow view of Szechuan cuisine; the impression of only hot and spicy food is wrong, there are many more variety available. Linda, the director of SCDH, who hosted us for the tasting session. And I have to conclude that Linda was the best host among the 4 restaurants which we had went to; her passion for food, and her warm & friendly smile, made our meal more enjoyable.
The 40 items which we tried for the tasting session were part of their weekend lunch which had a mind-blowing 100 items, priced at another unbelievable figure $38.8. My appreciation to Linda for hosting us, and Cuisine & Wine Asia for the invitation.
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!
The first of the many to come, Wan Hao Chinese restaurant at Marriott hotel.
Now what can I say? I totally love roast pork belly! The dish is often an indicator of the standard of a Chinese restaurant; Wan Hao’s rendition was nicely done - crispy top with a thin-and-nice layer of fats. “One cube definitely wasn’t enough”, I protested! But hey, there’s still thirty more dish to go!
Although I couldn’t exactly tasted which seven spices were use, but the combination was seductive to the palate, the Seven spices sea perch fillet.
And just before you are thinking Chinese restaurants are boring and served the usual-you-know-what food, the Hokkigai and salmon sashimi would certainly prove you wrong! Just look at the thickly-and-generous slices of the fresh sashimi. It-is-to-die-for.
For the tasting at Wan Hao, only Catherine of Camemberu fame and myself was present among the five of us. And she absolutely loved the Jelly fish with cucumber. Tangy and Q, it was a refreshing appetiser.
Like the no-smoking campaign slogon which asked you to say ‘No‘ to cigarettes, I could never say no to roast duck. My interpretation of a good roast duck: crispy skin with a layer of fats and tasty duck meat. This one had it all, and say it with me, Oomph-la-la!
Vermicelli with pork fillet. There wasn’t anything spectacular but this is just one, good, comfort food, which stood out among the delicacies we tried.
In my humble opinion, Wan Hao has the best Ha Gau among the four places that we tried. All of them used top-quality fresh prawns, but what made the one here stood out was the the skin; some places would do it too thick, and some too thin - it was done perfectly here. Bravo!
I actually preferred the spring roll filled with smoked duck meat to the roasted duck. The smoked duck meat lived up to its name - the very smoky taste within the crispy spring roll.
While some people found that the addition of fish roe to the top only served as an adornment; I thought that it’s fine so long the tiny orange eggs wasn’t in excessive to overwhelm the taste of the siew mai.
I ain’t a big fan of asparagus - the word alone put me off; but I had to try this translucent pretty-looking asparagus dumpling, which tasted decent.
The sea perch fillet with garlic appeared squeaky-fresh; it seemed to be flipping on my plate! The golden mushrooms and tofu were integrated with the sea perch, and I love it!
I knew it was close. I could smell it. The strong alcohol scent. You can smell it from far away. The drunken prawns were as suspected, very strong in liqueur taste; the prawns were big and fresh. I must emphasized, the quality and freshness of the ingredients at Wan Hao was really what set them aside.
The mere presence of duck shreds greatly enhanced the flavour of the congee. And not to mention there’s sliced fish maw, squid too! All the natural goodness in the bowl of Congee.
It was sensational. Tender, let me tell you, the whole experience: the chewing and swallowing, we couldn’t speak. There was a lump stuck in my throat; I just allowed myself to quietly finished the meat, and inside I was secretly hoping there was more of this. I was struck in awe of the flavour and texture of the meat, this was certainly my most memorable and favourite dish of the meal. And I couldn’t bear to speak of its name, Kurabuta pork, all the way from Americaaa!
The meal was a late boomer. Just when I thought that the few dishes in front were all good, it got better and better. Or maybe they were saving the best for the last, either way, the Chilli prawns with crispy buns had the “made in Singapore” brand stamped all over it. Spicy, fresh, with the mini mantao bun to dip in to the sauce, it was a superb interpretation of prawns done in our local favourite Chilli crab. A Singapore classic.
I could not, believe how tender the meat actually was. It literally melted in my mouth - I know this phase sounded exaggerating and often over-used, but trust me, it’s true for the Beef tenderloin with black peppercorns. Oh my! I would gladly go back another time just for the kurobuta pork, chilli prawns, and the beef tenderloin alone.
All right, back to the basics. Not many places can do a mean version of the Ee-fu noodles. All of us agreed that this one was just right in terms of the oilyness and bite. Not too oily, not too dry, just exactly how we liked it.
For the first time, I was actually sorry to see the desserts coming - for it signalled the end of the wonderful meal. But Wan Hao dessert did not disappoint as well, the first to arrive, the Lemongrass jelly with lime sherbet was equally pleasing in aesthetic senses. Very refreshing, and a fine finish for us.
There was a big fan of the mango pudding among us, and he was right! I took a nibble without adding in any milk for the original taste; even eaten alone the smooth and creamy texture of the aroma mango was evident.
If you know me, you must know that I’m an anti-durian person. For the sake of sharing with everybody, I popped one durian mochi inside - the mochi was very sticky, the smell of the fabled durian king of the fruits wasn’t very apparent until I took a bite of it, and that’s when I say, Shit!
I love egg tarts, and I always questioned the fact why Chinese restaurants always do their egg tarts in mini sizes. And like the manager of Wan Hao put it, the small bite was just right, anything bigger it would be too much. Crisp golden brown pastry with equally good egg fillings.
* * *
I must admit, I’m impressed with Wan Hao Chinese restaurant. The freshness in the quality ingredients, with the management’s emphasis on this, plus the service of the staff, were all top-notch. I’m not talking about their good service because it was a tasting session, after we finished our meal, we went down to their bakery; the staff was very knowledgeable about their bakes and was very professional.
The 31 items which we tried for this tasting session was half of their weekend brunch buffet which had 70 items, priced at $55 per head. For the sheer quality and variety, the sum is fair, will I be back? Definitely, See you there!
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!
Its been a while since I frequented pasta mania as I didn't believe in the quality although I know its good for a quick and cheap pasta kick. This time, friends wanted a cheap carbo load for Sundown Marathon so I went along :I
One of the grips I have with cheap pasta chains is that they don't know how to cook the pasta properly i.e al dente. And one of the tricks I learned is when unsure, order penne, because it is more difficult to overcook penne.
Prawn alio olio ($9.60) - with penne. Surprisingly generous portion and the penne cooked just nice. The prawns were diced rather than whole, I guess to make it look more than it was. Decent taste :D
My dinner mates had other things which I did not try but they looked decent.
Also took their "Set C" which gives you a drink and garlic bread at an additional $3.60. The bread was very hard and the drink, well is just a drink. Just that Coke Light costs $0.30 more.
I'm glad that the quality has improved so much :D My only grip is that the tables are packed so tightly you hardly have any space against whoever is sitting behind you; the back of the seats sort of kiss each other.
The place looked decent enough for me to want to step into, although tucked away in a corner of Liang Court level 2. I would not have noticed it if not for the banner hanging from the roof of the mall.
The place looks like a family-style italian diner dotted with with simple no-frills tables and chairs with old-school tablecloths. Service was very cheerful and smiley...way to go~
But honestly, it was the prices that attracted me when I flipped through the menu. With pastas all below $8 and escargots for $5.58, I wanted to see if the quality can pass the mark too.
Spaghetti Peperoncino ($5.68) - Surprisingly good. Al dente and tossed with just the right amount of chili and olive oil. Too many chili seeds though, I took a while to pick them out haha.
Grilled chicken with cheese and tomato sauce ($7.18) - Served on hot plate; the presentation reminds me of Jack's Place, but the quality was much better thankfully. The piece of chicken was too small, but I guess justifiable for the price tag.
Grilled spicy sausages ($5.68) - 5 small sausages served with a side of potato wedges. Being served on hot plate made the slightly spicy sausages less oily than usual and the wedges very crispy. I like~
Drink bar ($2.58 / $3.88) - this is something I didn't try but it looks like a good deal for someone very thirsty. The free-flow bar consists of coffee / tea, soft drinks, and others like Olong tea and barley. You pay only $2.58 if you order as a set with your food; otherwise you pay $3.88 if you're parched but not hungry.
Bill was $21 for 2 persons, which i found it to be not a bad deal, given that its a restaurant setting just less the frills. Good alternative for pasta mania and one the less pricey Italian choice in the vicinity.
I had high expectations for this place, but left disappointed. After all, its located at Capella, our island's new 6-star hotel which charges exorbitant prices for its rooms, and I expected the food quality here to be on par. It turned out to be an assumption which I shouldn't have taken.
We had almost everything on the dim sum menu except a few common items like century egg porridge and lotus wrapped glutinous rice:
Amuse Bouche - dragonfruit, pork belly and mango. Chinese restaurants don't usually serve this so was quite pleasantly surprised when it came. The pork belly stood out as quite freshing, without the oiliness that's usually associated with it.
Steamed Milk Custard Bun with Salted Egg Yolk - Came in a orange-hue and nips that, according to lunch mates, looked home-made. Good for them. Taste-wise, not impressive though.
Deep Fried Spring Roll with Prawn, Garlic and Mozzarella Cheese - Long sticks served in a tall glass, which is a unusual presentation for a Chinese restaurant. Not too bad, although I couldn't really taste the cheese.
Pan Fried Bean Curd Skin Rolls with Chicken and French Foie Gras - I don't eat foie gras but I ate it before I remembered. Didn't taste any , so maybe it was good for me that way.
Wok Fried Carrot Cake with Crisp Garlic in Pi Fong Tang Style - My 'must order' dish when having dim sum. Too much fried garlic paired with the otherwise rather bland carrot cake. A limp way to mask the lackluster effort I thought.
Steamed Barbecued US Berkshire Pork Buns - I didn't have this but according to lunch mates, it was not too bad.
Crispy Prawn Dumplings with Wasabi Mayo - Normal stuff.
Steamed Crystal Shrimp Dumplings with Bamboo Shoot and Celery - Cute presentation but otherwise average tasting.
Deep Fried Thai Papaya Puff - we all agreed this unusual dish turned out pretty well. I was only glad the papaya filling was not annoyingly sweet.
Pan Fried Australian Minced Wagyu Beef Bun with Truffle and Water Chestnut - Not too bad i thought, for someone who don't take beef like me. But it was probably a waste of good beef at the same time.
Steamed Sui Mai Dumplings, topped with Norwegian Salmon Roe - Too meaty for my liking. Roe was too fishy for me and meat strangely crunchy.
Baked Farm Egg Tart - Was okay for me.
Really average food quality at best. $72 for 3 people wasn't too pricey at least; I had expected a higher bill when mentally adding up the items. Plus the fact that it is so ulu, I doubt I would return. Nice cushy seats and posh ambience was a plus of course but not a strong enough bait.
I believe this blogstore has been around for a long time, judging from the number of collections they have to date! (133 collections to date!)
Tracyeinny has a very professional and clean cut layout. I cannot stress enough the importance of having a neat layout. Many times, blogstores fail in this aspect. Over here, there are even instructions on how to navigate the blogstore better. Thumbs up for that foresight!
The homepage only displays the latest announcements and the latest collection. In this way, online shoppers won't get confused. Also, the page will not take too long to load! Many other blogshops display too many entries in the landing page and it gets VERY frustrating waiting for everything to finish loading.
Tracyeinny's service is also of a good standard. E-mails are replied rather promptly (at least once a day) and once the item has been mailed, they inform customers.
Over here, they have a wide range of clothes. Just by scrolling down the latest collection, I can already spot the many different types of clothes that caters to people who have different tastes in fashion! Its always important to cater to as many people as possible, especially since their target age group consists of rather fickle people when it comes to style and fashion!
All in all, I feel very satisfied with my purchase from Tracyeinny and I recommend everyone to check them out. The prices are reasonable too! Definitely worth the money.
If 7atenine was the best meal I had so far, then Au Petit Salut would be its equal.
I was the passerby in your colourful life, we never seem to meet, until now. Our encounter is but an absence and a providence: now that we’ve met, I hold you dear. The place of eternal memories; Au Petit Salut.
Lush, lush, lush and green. It seems so near, yet so far. Right in the middle, but not in the middle; I had to admit - I was wrong. Overrated, you are not, there’s just something special about you. I wished we’ve met earlier, but like they say, it’s better to be late than never.
It was all we need to get started with, a piece of bread, and a stick of butter. We threw envious glares at the seemingly-softer white-looking bread at the table adjacent to us; it was just, human nature.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do - and in a French restaurant, eat snails as the French does. This was my second time eating the slimy-looking creature, and as much as I thought it looked similar to cockle; I love the strong butter and garlic smell. Half dozen baked Burgundy snails with tomato and garlic butter, way to go!
I’m-a-carnivore! And the only appetiser on the menu which seemed to satisfy the meat-eater in me was the Pork terrine and mesclun salad, shallots, gherkins and capers vinaigrette. I took a bite, chew-chew-swallow-swallow, and I took another bite. A piece of pork with really extraordinary subtlety and texture. And my dear, this was where the meal just began.
Words are powerful stuff, they can make you happy, sad, angry or nervous. In this case, I was excited by the mere-presence of the word, beef cheeks.
What part, you asked again?
Beef cheeks. Pardon me, but I have never eaten somebody’s cheek before.
Red wine braised beef cheeks, carrots, mushrooms and parsley potatoes. I realised I couldn’t really tell the difference between the different parts of the cow, but did it really mattered? The braised beef cheeks were tenderly-done, and there was the potatoes which were a-part-of-it.
I had to agree that braised beef tasted better than lamb shank, or maybe I haven’t tried one that is worthy, yet.
If the beef cheek were tenderly-done, then the Pan seared onglet beef was done exactly the way I love it! And just exactly what was Onglet, I know it’s a prime cut of beef, but past that I’m beyond caring. Don’t talk to me about the different grade, the marbling of the meat, there ain’t no need to discuss the cooking technique, I-just-liked-this!
With a tinge of pink, the medium-rare meat was per-fect! And I love the confit shallots which spreaded over the top of the beef, like the sky covered over the land. The presence of the French fries were puzzling, I decided I was going to ignore its guest appearance on the plate and focused on the beef instead.
The lemon tart was fabulous - how can something so simple. be so, absolutely wonderful. The texture of the lemon curd was done just right, and paired with the subtle ice cream with a hint of lavender-honey, I’m a happy boy.
I had a quickie with the Crème brulée; I took the first taste, stunned for a moment, and took my second. This continued until I finished the whole dessert. Beneath the nicely-touched caramelised sugar, was the smoothest yet firm, custard, infused with vanilla beans.
Total bill was $70 for two set lunches. I, had an awesome time! Which left me with this question, why didn’t I go there earlier! Au petit Salut has one of the most reasonable set lunches at $30 , comparing with most of the restaurants which are doing theirs at $38 , I thought it is a steal. Of course, there are certainly better restaurants out there, but I love the place as a whole. See you there!
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!
1=SGD 0.0587
This is indeed another of my favourite hangout... I mean don't you just love walking the departmental stores.. They display an array of goods especially chosen to suit your needs from your head to your toes all the way into your tummy and your bed where you spend 1/3 of your life snuggling in...
I always love the comprehensive list of items Tangs have and each items comes in different shades of colours with so many designs, brands, materials and sizes to choose from. I particularly love to walk the bag section... Which is the first section you enter.. there you can see the helpful staffs waiting to serve you.. I mean.. its difficult to find helpful staffs in departmental stores... They are always hiding somewhere talking or resting.. I mean its tough standing all day but isn't it the goal of the job to serve your customers till they happily leave the store?
Anyway, back to the Bags... They carry a good number of brands and while walking the colourful bag section you could see the brightly lit skin care and perfume section. Here you can find all sorts of international brands in which you could lavishly try the scents till you find one of your delight. Walking on you can find the man's sections with assortments of leather belts, ties and shoes with various Macho Designs as well as young and colourful young Punks dressing as well as travel bags of all sizes to suit all your travel needs. The watch section i particularly enjoy browsing through the different brands and shiny glass cases.
Upstairs you can find kitchen appliances, accessories as well as bedding needs... I particular like the fact that theres a mini honey corner where you can buy all sorts of products to please your HONEY as well as a mini chinese medicated tea shop to soothe the heatiness...
Also check out the Lifestyle section where they display these crystal clear audio CDs of old fashioned songs... Wo de bu dao ni de ai qing......
Also.. It pays to be a member as they do have closed door sales and on top of the sales items, you do get rebates up to 12% on all your purchase. Best of it all... Even if you redeem your tangs dollars you could still get rebate on the balance you paid.. Its a great place to go with savings out of my imagination...
See you there at Tangs today SHOPPER BABEs!!!
Rating given:
The beautiful, each piece: Oh-so-dainty, Oh-so-refine. Almost like art, delicately crafted.
O’ my dear, I love you so. Never in my heart, I stopped thinking of you. Miss sushi, and Miss tapas: both seemed to be more popular than you, but I will always put you in the first place.
It was big, no, huge! This was, one of the many, different renditions of har gau we would see today. Essentially a har gau without the skin; the crab meat dumpling. It was prawny, with a nice bite - but crabby (no pun intended) it was not, well who cares?
Rather than an-overly-thick-skin, give me a dumpling without skin.
The well-admired Steamed Prawn Dumplings had an injection of carrot purée which only served to beautify the appearance of the har gau skin.
“We protested! We protested!”
The purist camp did a demonstration on the streets, crying for the restoration of the conventional har gau which they were so used to. But for the ladies; the boost in vitamin A. What was missing however, was the carrot taste.
The novelty. The inclusion of preserved vegetables was a brilliant stroke of art; the saltiness enhanced the flavour of the pork, which brought us to the question: why didn’t anybody thought of this before? Steamed pork dumpling with preserved vegetables, siew mai.
Now this was a not-so-simple bun that was bound to turn heads. Served piping hot, the bun seemed quite insignificant until you took a bite at it. Immediately, you would realize that you just had something very special. The bun itself was soft, fluffy and light as a feather while the fillings were so, so sweet and juicy. The Steamed kurobuta char siew pork fluffy bao, was the winner for the day.
The humble har gau did an open-faced sandwich; with shark’s fin on top. Luxury, it was, wealth, it symbolized, and prestige, it presented. Sorry sharky! Steamed shark’s fin dumplings with dried scallops and shrimp.
The tinge of pink, at the top of the tri-top; pretty and so pretty. Another piece of art we seen, at the gallery of Cherry Garden. However, the Scallop and spinach crystal dumpling did came across as slightly dry.
Truffled Essence Crystal Dumplings stuffed with Assorted Fresh Mushrooms. This, was a beauty; the translucent skin, the jelly texture, the array of mushrooms, almost perfect - but it was too large!
Prawn was the main lead, and mango was the second lead. There was the accompany of the green, hot wasabi! Netted rice crispy turnover. I held you, in my arms, into the late wee wee hour: without the wasabi! My dear, the netted rice crispy turnover.
And there was the famous XLB. The voluptuous folds, the goodness of the soup stock, everything, gushing out.
Like a peacock spreading his feathers, the netted rice crispy did a peacock effect: it caught everybody’s attention. Oh my, so beautiful, was this meant to be eaten?
And oh wait, there’s something hiding below the feathers; the netted rice crispy I meant. Ah, that’s the pan-fried chives and chicken dumplings!
Unfortunately, I was not a big fan of chives - I would leave the taste of the dumpling to your own imagination. This was, a piece of art! Why don’t we turn it upside down?
This was the umpteenth time we had a make-over of the har gau, they called it, Steamed Chinese spinach dumplings. The spinach, provided the lovely lines, just like how a painting adorned the wall. The egg yolk, provided the oomph, so, so good.
This, was a poisonous pear, for snow white. The wicked witch threw in some pumpkin, a pinch of jicama, stirred stirred, mixed mixed, and finally, some vegetarian ham.
Poof! With a wave of her wand, the deep-fried potato “pear” appeared. Crispy texture checked, mesmerizing appearance checked, vegetarian (snow white is on a diet) checked. Sticky innards (to stick the mouth together) checked. Everything was present, and OH, where’s the poison?
And we took a plunge, into the deep, deep blue sea. From the land to the sea, the Symphony of live pacific grouper prepared in three different ways. The first: we have a soup, grouper fish broth with ginger, onion and Silken tofu.
Steamed grouper crystal fish dumpling. Was this a dim sum, or was this a fish? It was both, with a twist. Brilliant it was, bravo we shouted. Grouper fish meat inside a dumpling of the fish skin. It was beautiful, too beautiful to eat.
It was not all smooth-sailing, nothing was. As much as I loved the creativity, there was a snag. The use of fish skin, for the translucent was great for the eyes, but not for the mouth. It was chewy, and slightly fishy: non fish lovers, would say, no no!
Prawn and pork, were absent. I give you fish, fish for dim sum. The very first, I believed. Let there be more, say fish siew mai? This, surely, would be a great day for all the fish lovers.
One price, one fish, for the value of three. Worthy, indeed. Sautéed grouper fillet with asparagus, no parts of the fish were wasted, from the meat, to the skin.
I have always wanted to go to Cherry Garden. And I’m glad I finally did. It was a feast, for the visual senses. The dim sum, so delicately craft piece by piece, was an art, for all to enjoyed. Creativity was certainly in the air, the adventurous use of different ingredients, the details to attention for the tiniest things, the emphasize of making it look as good as it tasted. I’m sold. Praises, have to be reserved for the savvy and charismatic executive Chinese chef, Mr Hiew Gun Khong.
Cherry Garden has the weekend dim sum ala carte buffet at $45 per head, which has a selections of 20 over dim sum, and other Chinese food as well. My appreciation to Kelly, the PR relations manager for hosting us, and Cuisine & Wine Asia for the invitation.
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!
Rating given:
This place is more like being called the Pets Safari however the anchor outlet of Pet Lovers Centre. Here, you can find everything you need for every kind of your pet. Be it the cute little puppy, meowie cat, small hamsters or even pet goldfish... They have everything to suit everybody's needs.
The cages come in many trendy designs and colours as well as sizes for adult german sheperds down to the smallest hamster carrier, not forgetting the handy sling tank.. Now you can bring your fishes for pet walks :).....
All sorts of food, treats and vitamin supplements are available for your pet... Fully Edible Toy Houses made from organic and dye free materials for the comfort of your small hamsters.... I mean they really do have a wide range of everything. Take rabbit food for example, they have various kinds of pallets and hays for their staple food and treats including the carrot lookalike vitamin supplied toy carrot that could last you for at least a week. On top of that your pet rabbit's teeth will be nice and trimmed after playing with that toy...
If your dog's is having a bad hair and is feeling depressed because of that, you could bring him to the grooming centre in this outlet and your babe will appear looking cool with a nice hairstyle and confident to attract new friends.
If you don't have a pet.. You could buy one here... They have small animals such as hamsters of various species, rabbits so fat you can cuddle them, guinea pigs so fluffy you can't wait to bring one home. If you prefer something bigger.. Check out the puppies on sale.. They are so adorable, I just can't stand the doggie eyes they give me.. You can ask the friendly staff to let you carry them for a while.. Bond for awhile before you decide if you want to buy them.. However.. Its important never to buy on IMPULSE... Taking care of a pet is a pretty time consuming activity... Unlike buying a car or the Wii when you can ignore them when you have no time or don't feel like it.. Getting a pet is commiting yourself to taking care of them :)
You could join Pet Lovers Centre's membership to get a 10 to 15% discount on everything except live animals... Sometimes they do have some other member perks which can be useful... I love this shop as the staff are so friendly and helpful to attend to my every need. Most importantly, the 'bad hair day' guinea pigs are only going for $80 for one and i'm definitely looking for a girlfriend for my darling 'CASH!'
However I am sad about one thing.. There's no place at vivo for the pets to wander about.... I've been to many countries and even in countries like taiwan, they allow their pets in the mall.. as long as you could handcarry them or put them in a pram.. they are fine... Even in malls like our PARAGON / KLCC kind.. people bring their full grown overweight golden retriever for lunch at the food court with them... Its something I hope we could get there soon....
Meanwhile, enjoy your walk in pets safari which by the way is next to the DaiSo... It could be really educational for your children too...
Rating given:
60. The number could refer to almost anything; age, weight, people, money, time - Si Chuan Dou Hua restaurant on the sixty level of UOB plaza. 100 - a century figure of dishes at weekend lunch, offering dim sum, tea and Szechuan cuisine. 38.8 - the unbeatable price of under forty dollars. Numbers are magic: they tell a thousand things too.
The kidney, I have to say, was lovely: chewy and pinkish-coloured, swelled-looking, with the clever use of spices covered the porky smell which made so many people avoided the delicious pig kidney.
The question of authenticity popped up during the tasting session, and Linda the director of SCDH was quick to point out although there were some minor tweaks of the dishes to suit local palates, the Chilled chicken in spicy bean paste was done exactly like the Szechuan favourite. The spicy bean paste caused a storm; hot, fiery, and simply so Szechuan!
SCDH served us many cold dishes for starters, and the Sliced beef and tripe in chilli sauce was one of them.
At first glance, it was not difficult to mistaken the Sliced duck in Teow chew style for the more commonly seen drunken chicken. Thinly sliced, I could never resist duck meat!
This one caught me by surprise - the crispy chicken puff. I wasn’t expecting something so, small and tiny, to be so good. The crispy fried skin had chicken within: it was a reminiscent of cream puff, except the pastry was fried instead of baked, and the fillings were chicken instead of cream.
Perfect. One of the best carrot cake I’ve had; every bite was flavourful with radish. The only correct thing to make a good carrot cake is to just add more radish, it’s so simple, yet many fail to get the gist of it.
The purist would protest at the sight of the Steamed siew mai with quill egg. The additional of quill egg was an innovation, and credits had to be given to the chefs for experimenting with different ingredients.
No, it definitely wasn’t St Valentine’s the last time I checked. Nonetheless, the heart shape was pretty enough to gorge at - Pan-fried shredded yam pancake with waxed meat.
I ain’t a big fan of mince meat balls, but the Steamed beef balls with seasonal vegetables won me over with the chewy and bouncy texture.
I eyed the golden dumpling, not knowing what to do. Should I, or should I not? I took up my pair of chopsticks, and dove right in, secretly praying in my heart: Sharky, rest in peace, you’d not die in vain. Steamed shark’s fin and chicken dumpling.
Despite the scary-looking-thick-oily-layer of chilli, the Dumpling with chilli oil was surprisingly, not that spicy. I had called the fire brigade to be prepared to put out any fire, and after one tiny nibble of the dumpling, it was safe. And I ate some more, of the thick and generous filling, which almost busted out of the dumpling skin.
This one was interesting. The Pan-fried fish pancake with parsley, the crispy firm pastry-like texture was evident, but I couldn’t quite make out what actually constituted in the fish pancake.
For the best creative award, I presented to you the, Pan-fried sweet corn pancake. The inclusion of sweet corn in a dim sum was a first for me: needless to say, it worked. The sweet corn, like its name, enhanced the sweetness of the pancake.
The Steamed prawn dumpling, or Har gau, had fresh succulent prawns, but I found the skin slightly too thick from what I had in mind.
Instead of the streetfood in Szechuan, SCDH decided to upmarket the Fried pumpkin cake by scoring on presentation and refining it. The delicate-lovely-looking miniature pumpkin; it was too pretty to eat.
If there was one memorable dish I had to choose from SCDH, it had to be the Steamed lotus paste bun with egg yolk. The egg yolk within the lotus bun, oh my. It was indescribable. The combination of lotus paste and egg yolk, was akin to mooncake, with a bun skin.
Balancing my chopsticks, I took a glance at the noodles. This should be easy, I thought. I grabbed some noodles using my less-than-perfect chopstick skills, and slurped the tan tan noodle. The world seemed to froze in time; I took another mouthful of noodles, putting in as much as my mouth would fit. The noodles, how should I put it: bouncy, springy, smooth, well it seems my vocabulary would be exhausted soon. It was good!
We had the following desserts: herbal jelly, mango & pamelo cream, glutinous rice with coconut milk, almond cream with fungus, chilled strawberry jelly, chilled coconut & jackfruit cream, red bean paste with lotus seed, and yam paste with ginko nuts.
Si Chuan Dou Hua has certainly opened up my narrow view of Szechuan cuisine; the impression of only hot and spicy food is wrong, there are many more variety available. Linda, the director of SCDH, who hosted us for the tasting session. And I have to conclude that Linda was the best host among the 4 restaurants which we had went to; her passion for food, and her warm & friendly smile, made our meal more enjoyable.
The 40 items which we tried for the tasting session were part of their weekend lunch which had a mind-blowing 100 items, priced at another unbelievable figure $38.8. My appreciation to Linda for hosting us, and Cuisine & Wine Asia for the invitation.
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!
Rating given:
The first of the many to come, Wan Hao Chinese restaurant at Marriott hotel.
Now what can I say? I totally love roast pork belly! The dish is often an indicator of the standard of a Chinese restaurant; Wan Hao’s rendition was nicely done - crispy top with a thin-and-nice layer of fats. “One cube definitely wasn’t enough”, I protested! But hey, there’s still thirty more dish to go!
Although I couldn’t exactly tasted which seven spices were use, but the combination was seductive to the palate, the Seven spices sea perch fillet.
And just before you are thinking Chinese restaurants are boring and served the usual-you-know-what food, the Hokkigai and salmon sashimi would certainly prove you wrong! Just look at the thickly-and-generous slices of the fresh sashimi. It-is-to-die-for.
For the tasting at Wan Hao, only Catherine of Camemberu fame and myself was present among the five of us. And she absolutely loved the Jelly fish with cucumber. Tangy and Q, it was a refreshing appetiser.
Like the no-smoking campaign slogon which asked you to say ‘No‘ to cigarettes, I could never say no to roast duck. My interpretation of a good roast duck: crispy skin with a layer of fats and tasty duck meat. This one had it all, and say it with me, Oomph-la-la!
Vermicelli with pork fillet. There wasn’t anything spectacular but this is just one, good, comfort food, which stood out among the delicacies we tried.
In my humble opinion, Wan Hao has the best Ha Gau among the four places that we tried. All of them used top-quality fresh prawns, but what made the one here stood out was the the skin; some places would do it too thick, and some too thin - it was done perfectly here. Bravo!
I actually preferred the spring roll filled with smoked duck meat to the roasted duck. The smoked duck meat lived up to its name - the very smoky taste within the crispy spring roll.
While some people found that the addition of fish roe to the top only served as an adornment; I thought that it’s fine so long the tiny orange eggs wasn’t in excessive to overwhelm the taste of the siew mai.
I ain’t a big fan of asparagus - the word alone put me off; but I had to try this translucent pretty-looking asparagus dumpling, which tasted decent.
The sea perch fillet with garlic appeared squeaky-fresh; it seemed to be flipping on my plate! The golden mushrooms and tofu were integrated with the sea perch, and I love it!
I knew it was close. I could smell it. The strong alcohol scent. You can smell it from far away. The drunken prawns were as suspected, very strong in liqueur taste; the prawns were big and fresh. I must emphasized, the quality and freshness of the ingredients at Wan Hao was really what set them aside.
The mere presence of duck shreds greatly enhanced the flavour of the congee. And not to mention there’s sliced fish maw, squid too! All the natural goodness in the bowl of Congee.
It was sensational. Tender, let me tell you, the whole experience: the chewing and swallowing, we couldn’t speak. There was a lump stuck in my throat; I just allowed myself to quietly finished the meat, and inside I was secretly hoping there was more of this. I was struck in awe of the flavour and texture of the meat, this was certainly my most memorable and favourite dish of the meal. And I couldn’t bear to speak of its name, Kurabuta pork, all the way from Americaaa!
The meal was a late boomer. Just when I thought that the few dishes in front were all good, it got better and better. Or maybe they were saving the best for the last, either way, the Chilli prawns with crispy buns had the “made in Singapore” brand stamped all over it. Spicy, fresh, with the mini mantao bun to dip in to the sauce, it was a superb interpretation of prawns done in our local favourite Chilli crab. A Singapore classic.
I could not, believe how tender the meat actually was. It literally melted in my mouth - I know this phase sounded exaggerating and often over-used, but trust me, it’s true for the Beef tenderloin with black peppercorns. Oh my! I would gladly go back another time just for the kurobuta pork, chilli prawns, and the beef tenderloin alone.
All right, back to the basics. Not many places can do a mean version of the Ee-fu noodles. All of us agreed that this one was just right in terms of the oilyness and bite. Not too oily, not too dry, just exactly how we liked it.
For the first time, I was actually sorry to see the desserts coming - for it signalled the end of the wonderful meal. But Wan Hao dessert did not disappoint as well, the first to arrive, the Lemongrass jelly with lime sherbet was equally pleasing in aesthetic senses. Very refreshing, and a fine finish for us.
There was a big fan of the mango pudding among us, and he was right! I took a nibble without adding in any milk for the original taste; even eaten alone the smooth and creamy texture of the aroma mango was evident.
If you know me, you must know that I’m an anti-durian person. For the sake of sharing with everybody, I popped one durian mochi inside - the mochi was very sticky, the smell of the fabled durian king of the fruits wasn’t very apparent until I took a bite of it, and that’s when I say, Shit!
I love egg tarts, and I always questioned the fact why Chinese restaurants always do their egg tarts in mini sizes. And like the manager of Wan Hao put it, the small bite was just right, anything bigger it would be too much. Crisp golden brown pastry with equally good egg fillings.
* * *
I must admit, I’m impressed with Wan Hao Chinese restaurant. The freshness in the quality ingredients, with the management’s emphasis on this, plus the service of the staff, were all top-notch. I’m not talking about their good service because it was a tasting session, after we finished our meal, we went down to their bakery; the staff was very knowledgeable about their bakes and was very professional.
The 31 items which we tried for this tasting session was half of their weekend brunch buffet which had 70 items, priced at $55 per head. For the sheer quality and variety, the sum is fair, will I be back? Definitely, See you there!
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!
Rating given:
Decent pasta~
Its been a while since I frequented pasta mania as I didn't believe in the quality although I know its good for a quick and cheap pasta kick. This time, friends wanted a cheap carbo load for Sundown Marathon so I went along :I
One of the grips I have with cheap pasta chains is that they don't know how to cook the pasta properly i.e al dente. And one of the tricks I learned is when unsure, order penne, because it is more difficult to overcook penne.
Prawn alio olio ($9.60) - with penne. Surprisingly generous portion and the penne cooked just nice. The prawns were diced rather than whole, I guess to make it look more than it was. Decent taste :D
My dinner mates had other things which I did not try but they looked decent.
Also took their "Set C" which gives you a drink and garlic bread at an additional $3.60. The bread was very hard and the drink, well is just a drink. Just that Coke Light costs $0.30 more.
I'm glad that the quality has improved so much :D My only grip is that the tables are packed so tightly you hardly have any space against whoever is sitting behind you; the back of the seats sort of kiss each other.
Rating given:
Pasta Mania alternative :D
The place looked decent enough for me to want to step into, although tucked away in a corner of Liang Court level 2. I would not have noticed it if not for the banner hanging from the roof of the mall.
The place looks like a family-style italian diner dotted with with simple no-frills tables and chairs with old-school tablecloths. Service was very cheerful and smiley...way to go~
But honestly, it was the prices that attracted me when I flipped through the menu. With pastas all below $8 and escargots for $5.58, I wanted to see if the quality can pass the mark too.
Spaghetti Peperoncino ($5.68) - Surprisingly good. Al dente and tossed with just the right amount of chili and olive oil. Too many chili seeds though, I took a while to pick them out haha.
Grilled chicken with cheese and tomato sauce ($7.18) - Served on hot plate; the presentation reminds me of Jack's Place, but the quality was much better thankfully. The piece of chicken was too small, but I guess justifiable for the price tag.
Grilled spicy sausages ($5.68) - 5 small sausages served with a side of potato wedges. Being served on hot plate made the slightly spicy sausages less oily than usual and the wedges very crispy. I like~
Drink bar ($2.58 / $3.88) - this is something I didn't try but it looks like a good deal for someone very thirsty. The free-flow bar consists of coffee / tea, soft drinks, and others like Olong tea and barley. You pay only $2.58 if you order as a set with your food; otherwise you pay $3.88 if you're parched but not hungry.
Bill was $21 for 2 persons, which i found it to be not a bad deal, given that its a restaurant setting just less the frills. Good alternative for pasta mania and one the less pricey Italian choice in the vicinity.
Rating given:
Disappointing...
I had high expectations for this place, but left disappointed. After all, its located at Capella, our island's new 6-star hotel which charges exorbitant prices for its rooms, and I expected the food quality here to be on par. It turned out to be an assumption which I shouldn't have taken.
We had almost everything on the dim sum menu except a few common items like century egg porridge and lotus wrapped glutinous rice:
Amuse Bouche - dragonfruit, pork belly and mango. Chinese restaurants don't usually serve this so was quite pleasantly surprised when it came. The pork belly stood out as quite freshing, without the oiliness that's usually associated with it.
Steamed Milk Custard Bun with Salted Egg Yolk - Came in a orange-hue and nips that, according to lunch mates, looked home-made. Good for them. Taste-wise, not impressive though.
Deep Fried Spring Roll with Prawn, Garlic and Mozzarella Cheese - Long sticks served in a tall glass, which is a unusual presentation for a Chinese restaurant. Not too bad, although I couldn't really taste the cheese.
Pan Fried Bean Curd Skin Rolls with Chicken and French Foie Gras - I don't eat foie gras but I ate it before I remembered. Didn't taste any , so maybe it was good for me that way.
Wok Fried Carrot Cake with Crisp Garlic in Pi Fong Tang Style - My 'must order' dish when having dim sum. Too much fried garlic paired with the otherwise rather bland carrot cake. A limp way to mask the lackluster effort I thought.
Steamed Barbecued US Berkshire Pork Buns - I didn't have this but according to lunch mates, it was not too bad.
Crispy Prawn Dumplings with Wasabi Mayo - Normal stuff.
Steamed Crystal Shrimp Dumplings with Bamboo Shoot and Celery - Cute presentation but otherwise average tasting.
Deep Fried Thai Papaya Puff - we all agreed this unusual dish turned out pretty well. I was only glad the papaya filling was not annoyingly sweet.
Pan Fried Australian Minced Wagyu Beef Bun with Truffle and Water Chestnut - Not too bad i thought, for someone who don't take beef like me. But it was probably a waste of good beef at the same time.
Steamed Sui Mai Dumplings, topped with Norwegian Salmon Roe - Too meaty for my liking. Roe was too fishy for me and meat strangely crunchy.
Baked Farm Egg Tart - Was okay for me.
Really average food quality at best. $72 for 3 people wasn't too pricey at least; I had expected a higher bill when mentally adding up the items. Plus the fact that it is so ulu, I doubt I would return. Nice cushy seats and posh ambience was a plus of course but not a strong enough bait.
Rating given:
I believe this blogstore has been around for a long time, judging from the number of collections they have to date! (133 collections to date!)
Tracyeinny has a very professional and clean cut layout. I cannot stress enough the importance of having a neat layout. Many times, blogstores fail in this aspect. Over here, there are even instructions on how to navigate the blogstore better. Thumbs up for that foresight!
The homepage only displays the latest announcements and the latest collection. In this way, online shoppers won't get confused. Also, the page will not take too long to load! Many other blogshops display too many entries in the landing page and it gets VERY frustrating waiting for everything to finish loading.
Tracyeinny's service is also of a good standard. E-mails are replied rather promptly (at least once a day) and once the item has been mailed, they inform customers.
Over here, they have a wide range of clothes. Just by scrolling down the latest collection, I can already spot the many different types of clothes that caters to people who have different tastes in fashion! Its always important to cater to as many people as possible, especially since their target age group consists of rather fickle people when it comes to style and fashion!
All in all, I feel very satisfied with my purchase from Tracyeinny and I recommend everyone to check them out. The prices are reasonable too! Definitely worth the money.
Rating given:
If 7atenine was the best meal I had so far, then Au Petit Salut would be its equal.
I was the passerby in your colourful life, we never seem to meet, until now. Our encounter is but an absence and a providence: now that we’ve met, I hold you dear. The place of eternal memories; Au Petit Salut.
Lush, lush, lush and green. It seems so near, yet so far. Right in the middle, but not in the middle; I had to admit - I was wrong. Overrated, you are not, there’s just something special about you. I wished we’ve met earlier, but like they say, it’s better to be late than never.
It was all we need to get started with, a piece of bread, and a stick of butter. We threw envious glares at the seemingly-softer white-looking bread at the table adjacent to us; it was just, human nature.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do - and in a French restaurant, eat snails as the French does. This was my second time eating the slimy-looking creature, and as much as I thought it looked similar to cockle; I love the strong butter and garlic smell. Half dozen baked Burgundy snails with tomato and garlic butter, way to go!
I’m-a-carnivore! And the only appetiser on the menu which seemed to satisfy the meat-eater in me was the Pork terrine and mesclun salad, shallots, gherkins and capers vinaigrette. I took a bite, chew-chew-swallow-swallow, and I took another bite. A piece of pork with really extraordinary subtlety and texture. And my dear, this was where the meal just began.
Words are powerful stuff, they can make you happy, sad, angry or nervous. In this case, I was excited by the mere-presence of the word, beef cheeks.
What part, you asked again?
Beef cheeks. Pardon me, but I have never eaten somebody’s cheek before.
Red wine braised beef cheeks, carrots, mushrooms and parsley potatoes. I realised I couldn’t really tell the difference between the different parts of the cow, but did it really mattered? The braised beef cheeks were tenderly-done, and there was the potatoes which were a-part-of-it.
I had to agree that braised beef tasted better than lamb shank, or maybe I haven’t tried one that is worthy, yet.
If the beef cheek were tenderly-done, then the Pan seared onglet beef was done exactly the way I love it! And just exactly what was Onglet, I know it’s a prime cut of beef, but past that I’m beyond caring. Don’t talk to me about the different grade, the marbling of the meat, there ain’t no need to discuss the cooking technique, I-just-liked-this!
With a tinge of pink, the medium-rare meat was per-fect! And I love the confit shallots which spreaded over the top of the beef, like the sky covered over the land. The presence of the French fries were puzzling, I decided I was going to ignore its guest appearance on the plate and focused on the beef instead.
The lemon tart was fabulous - how can something so simple. be so, absolutely wonderful. The texture of the lemon curd was done just right, and paired with the subtle ice cream with a hint of lavender-honey, I’m a happy boy.
I had a quickie with the Crème brulée; I took the first taste, stunned for a moment, and took my second. This continued until I finished the whole dessert. Beneath the nicely-touched caramelised sugar, was the smoothest yet firm, custard, infused with vanilla beans.
Total bill was $70 for two set lunches. I, had an awesome time! Which left me with this question, why didn’t I go there earlier! Au petit Salut has one of the most reasonable set lunches at $30 , comparing with most of the restaurants which are doing theirs at $38 , I thought it is a steal. Of course, there are certainly better restaurants out there, but I love the place as a whole. See you there!
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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