Decided on this high tea for a staff makan session as they were having a 1-4-1 with UOB (max of 2 free) or 2 1 with ANZ - both for high tea 3-5pm from Mondays to Thursdays. For the 7 of us, the 2 promos ende dup being the same - $229 for 7pax in total.
I visited this place once before they renovated and was not impressed so it was time to give them a chance. As it turned out, my post-reno experience is much better.
The cafe was really crowded when we went on a Tuesday afternoon at 3pm. Everyone dont need to work?!
Cold dishes - quite a nice variety of cold stuff: fresh prawns on ice (really fresh!), assorted sushi, DIY salad, smoked salmon. Rather tasty.
Breads - about 4-5 selection but I didnt try any. Who eats breads at buffets?
Hot dishes - Indian curries and pratas, assorted dim sum, chinese stir fries, baked goods like scones, pizzas, and popiahs. A nice mix of cuisines I must say.
Cooking stations - DIY where you pick and take your own ingredients like veg, bean sprouts, fish cakes take your own noodle type pass to the chef to blanch. When done, just choose the soup base you want from Ba Kut Teh, Prawn noodle, Mee siam, and laksa. Not too bad and very comforting.
Desserts - More local desserts like tao suan, kuehs, and mini cakes. Ice cream is available but flavours were boring. There's also a DIY ice kachang station too.
The buffet includes coffee and tea too.
Service was nothing to complain about, with very efficient fervently staff clearing plates at the beginning, but I guess they ran out of steam towards the end.
Still a nice meal in a nice environment nonetheless but I wouldnt come back if there aren't any promo.
I decided to have a beer with a friend at Medz while having 2 hours to kill in between stuff, attracted by the 1-4-1 promotion going on. We flipped through the table tentage menu placed on the counter for a while before decided on the kronenburg which is listed as $13.22 on the menu.
When the bill came, it was $15. We asked the staff why and they said ' (pointing to the table tentage menu) oh that's the old menu. All our prices have gone up by 15% now". HUH?? We asked for the new menu reflecting indicating the new prices and was told "its only ready in about 1week". oOOOKAY.
How difficult is it to print paper menu indicating new prices? Even temporary ones will do. Or even a signage indicating and explaining the price hike. They obviously know customers are looking at outdated prices and yet say nothing, leaving only until I check the bill to clarify - and its only because I clarified to which they responded. What about customers who dont have time to check their bills? Keeping quiet and playing ignorant shows there is something wrong with the way they are running the business.
I do believe this is a deliberate attempt to mislead customers into paying more than what is correct. Everyone should avoid this place until they sort out what is correct.
Eventually, a person who appears to be more senior just said "if you like we will charge you the old prices" and we were refunded the difference. But with no apologies and not at all sorry.
I like Food Republic as they seem to have better food than KouFu or Kopitiam. The wisma location is a much better option then the Ion counterpart in terms of quality and price, plus its generally less crowded.
This is my default post-gym dinner place but recently the prawn noodle soup stall has closed down. I also tried the dim sum stall's congee once and it was quite good. The toast box also makes for a good tea time pit-stop.
My current favorite is the sliced fish bittergourd noodle soup - for $4.80 you get a generous portion of fresh sliced fish and thick noodles swimming in flavourful broth.
Just dont try the 麻辣香锅 - it is not too bad but it is unexpectedly expensive! Of course it depends on the amount and type of veg you pick but it still adds up to about $8-10 for one person. Too ex for a simple foodcourt meal.
For passioncard members, you get a 10% discount on weekdays too :))
I bought a Groupon voucher for $58 which includes 1 hour massage 1 hour facial 10min detox foot soak. I thought it was a good deal, no?
The reception area gave us quite a good impression as it looked really nice, plus clean and tidy. The usual filling up of particulars, changing of robes etc, was in line.
A note too that they dont have washrooms of their own so visit one before you go for your appointment.
What the voucher says:"
- Welcome Drink and Snack
- 60 minute Full Body Massage
- 60 minute Kerstin Florian Facial
- 10 minute Detox Foot Soak
Choose from 4 types of massages:
- Customised
- Aromatherapy
- Oriental
- Fusion
Massage - - the massage started before I could ask about the choice of massage stated on the voucher. Oh well. The therapist was not too bad with her firm strokes and pleasant enough throughout the whole treatment.
Facial - the facila was normal, with cleansing, exfoliating, steam, extraction, and masking. I like it that they use a hand mix mask instead of a sheet mask.
Foot soak - we were told it was a sea salt detox mask but it looked like plain water to me.
The welcome drink and snack became a 'farewell' thing as they only served us during our food soak which was the last treatment. Nothing to shout about crappy ham and mayo heavy sandwiches. I also asked them why we werent given a choice of the massage as stated on the voucher and the masseur said oh because she used a combi of all 4 massages. RRiiiight.
I unfortunately didnt get the chance to dine her as the pre-order experience was not pleasant at all.
We had a group of 10pax and struggled to find seats enough for the group. So we ended up moving dirty tables together. The 2 staff was busy with other things behind the counter.. other things except helping to clean the tables. Granted we asked them for permission before we started moving the tables but was met with only disgruntled agreement.
Finally we got around to looking at the menu and a few of us walked up to the counter to look at the vegetables they have on offer. After maybe 30seconds, the staff told us in an impatient tone - "order please queue here".
I took that to mean we were not welcome and the whole group walked off thereafter. Good luck to having customers with such crappy attitude.
Chanced upon this tiny hole in a wall when needing a break from my heavy gym bag...how ironic. We decided to take up their tea set at $10 which gives you a choice of tart coffee / tea. I also was surprised at how many savories they have (choice of carbs or salad with your choice of meat / veg) despite having such a small set up.
They have only about 4 tables each sitting 4pax best of luck in finding seats!
Lime passionfruit tart - passionfruit creamux centre topped with key lime mousse, on a coconut rice crispy base - disappointingly un-refreshing. Had expected it to have a bit more zing instead of just being sweet and not sourish. No strong taste of lime, passionfruit, nor coconut either.
Blood orange macha tart - blood Orange mousse with a milk chocolate cremeux centre, atop a disk of Matcha streusel base - again no strong taste of matcha although the blood orange dome was quite nice.
Cappuccino - not too bad and comes with latte art too.
A nice place to chill with girl friends but I do feel they need to be stronger in their flavours to stand out in the increasingly cake / pastry / coffee Millennia Walk. Fika, 3-inch, Twelve cupcakes etc are all not too far away butt anything advantage is an advantage.
I was given a voucher which gave me a choice for 2 treatments - a 90min essential glow face spa (with stress relieving back massage) or a 45min slimming treatment. I picked the face spa on a Saturday evening at Liat Towers.
1st impression - the first thing I saw was several (about 5-6) staff huddled around the reception discussing things. Not a very welcoming sight. I arrived at 6:05pm for my 6:15pm appointment and went to the washroom and asked to fill up particulars as usual.
Pre-Treatment - I was asked to change my shoes before being led to the treatment room. I was told that my face will be cleansed before being analysed and thereafter the appropriate treatment will be done. But what they meant by 'appropriate treatment' was the appropriate hard selling. And so I was told after being pinched / pulled on the face a few times that my pores are very clogged and stuff that i put on my face / that they will put on my face will be useless. I was highly recommended a champagne enzyme at 'only $68', with the original price at $360. Of course i said no. And so the treatment started.
Treatment - The back massage lasted a grand total of ONE minute. Finished. Then the usual cleansing, extraction, mask, then sleeping. Very slip shoddy work and attitude, almost like they couldnt wait to get rid of me. Okay blame me for not agreeing to pay $68?
Post treatment - I was told I'm done after the mask was cleaned off and saw the time was 7:25pm. When asked for feedback, I told them I was surprised that it ended early. A staff quickly said oh she has to go check my appointment time. Another staff joined in soon, and I was told by both of them that oh I arrived at 6:05pm, and that the 90min includes the consultation, changing of clothes, and etc etc and they state 90min on the voucher because they didnt want customers to feel rushed. They added that the actual facial is around 1 hour...really???? And so I asked about why it says 'deep cleansing' on the description for the face spa - I was told deep cleansing means extraction included. I dont see how deep it was.
I didnt make too much noise as the voucher was given to me free but I did feel cheated and will advise anyone against paying for treatments there as they are not honest in their trade.
We were enamoured by the cute sheep figurine parked at the entrance of the shop and drawn by the prospect of having pancakes for brunch on a late Sunday morning.
Located along the narrow and sometimes congested East Coast Road, just diagonally opposite I12 Katong, Batter Fluffy Flaps or BFF for short, boasts a cute, sheep centric interior and menu. Great if you are into cutesy stuff.
The both of us had the BFF special, which included 2 drinks, 2 pancakes dishes (savoury or sweet) and 1 side to share. For drinks we ordered the Cookies & Cream ice blended and the Pure Caramel Coffee Blended; Both decent but a tad watered down. And I guess you can't really go wrong with drinks?
Honey Baked Chicken Wings - I'm sorry to say this but the wings suffered 50% burns on the outside but remained relatively unscathed on the inside. Read. Relatively raw with blood still seeping through. Very badly executed and we gave up after the 2nd wing.
Fish Flaps - This was essentially deep fried fish fillet served with tartar sauce, coleslaw and 2 flapjacks. The fish fillets had way too much flour and very little fish but was still palatable though you would probably need a lot of tartar sauce to down that much flour. Coleslaw was a tad too creamy, rich and sourish for my liking. On a slightly more positive note, the pancakes were quite fluffy (though smallish) and well cooked, but the accompanying "maple syrup" tasted like the hotcake syrup that MacDonalds uses. That's definitely not maple syrup for sure.
Banana Bonanza - 2 pieces of pancakes topped with sliced bananas, vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce and walnuts. Average tasting though the pancakes were quite fluffy. The bananas could have been grilled to achieve a certain degree of caramelisation whilst the ice cream was evidently from the tub as I could find ice chips in it. The sole saving grace was the relatively generous serving of walnuts.
The BFF special cost the both of us $42.80, which was honestly a rip off for the quality of food. Please heed my advise on this place; Look past the cute facade and name and give this place a miss.
We were craving for something different on a lazy Sunday morning and made the trek far east to Changi Village for brunch at Chock Full Of Beans or CFOB for short.
As the name suggests, CFOB specializes in coffee; a drink which I seldom partake in and have absolutely zero knowledge on save for the fleeting knowledge that it exists. Tucked away in a corner shophouse along Changi Village Road, the place is packed on a late Sunday morning and you can choose to wait in line for a table or leave your contact number (the preferred option).
Omelette With 3 Fillings - We chose salmon, cheese and mushrooms for the fillings and the omelette came served with 2 thick slices of homemade toast and a toss of greens. Ingredients were a little sparse and the egg wasn't creamy enough but at such a price point ($12), I really can't complain.
Eggs Benedict - The Eggs Benedict sported a generous serving of ham but minimally runny yolks on a slice of hard toast and topped with a rather liquid hollandaise sauce. Average.
Buttermilk Waffles With Caramelized Bananas - Burnt at the bottom and a tad too stodgy, the buttermilk waffles were rather bland and came with whipped cream instead of the usual maple syrup. Topped with sweet bananas that could do with a little more grilling for extra caramelization. Average.
Iced Hazelnut Latte - As mentioned earlier, I know nothing about coffee but I did like the hazelnut latte, which was pretty soothing with a hazelnut tinge. But the main draw is definitely the cute 3D art, which is never quite the same even on the same day (ie. blue ribbon vs red ribbon). And at $6.50 a pop, it was worth the money and the wait, considering the effort and skills required.
Brunch set the both of us back by almost 40 bucks, which was relatively reasonable considering the quantity of food (quality was average) and of course the beautiful latte art. I understand that GST has since been incorporated so prices would have gone up a little but I'll probably be back just for the coffee and maybe to try the desserts.
Was itching to try out somewhere new for dim sum instead of the usual favourites thus settled for Jin Shan Restaurant (金山楼) at Marina Bay Sands one late Saturday morning.
Located within the confines of the hotel (not the shopping mall), Jin Shan sat on an elevated platform on the ground floor. Natural sunlight peered through the huge glass panels that lined the side, making for a comfortable and cheery atmosphere. Unfortunately this also meant that some tables were subjected to more sunlight than others.
Abalone Pork Dumpling - We started off with the abalone siew mai, which was a joke, seriously. The siew mai itself was decent without encapsulating too much fatty meat but the abalone had a very raw taste that spoilt the whole dish. Gross.
Jin Shan Signature Rice Rolls - The signature cheong fun was actually a combination of scallop, BBQ pork and deep fried beancurd skin rice rolls. The fillings were decent but the rice rolls were too thick for my liking and lacked the silkiness of good cheong fun.
Steamed Asparagus with Prawns Dumpling - Prawns and crunchy asparagus deftly wrapped in translucent dumpling skin and topped with a smidgen of roe; Decent but nothing too surprising.
Fresh Shrimp Dumpling - Crunchy prawns and acceptably thin dumpling skin. No burst of flavour though.
Steamed Custard Buns - Rich custard oozed out when we broke into the buns but sadly, the custard was just sweet without the saltiness and rough texture of egg yolk which would have made this dish great.
Deep Fried Prawn with Mango - This dish was a little interesting although not exactly in a good way. The prawns and mango bits were wrapped in dumpling skin, deep fried till crisp and topped with sesame seeds. I could make out the taste of the prawns and sesame seeds but sadly, the mango was non existent.
Fried Carrot Cake - A tad crisp on the outside without coming across as too mushy on the inside. Average tasting at best.
BBQ Combination - I think a good yardstick of any dim sum place is its roasted/BBQ meats (烧腊) and as pretty as our BBQ combination (roasted pork & soya sauce chicken) looked, it didn't quite match up. For starters, even though the roasted pork's skin was crisp, it wasn't evenly roasted (as evident from the different hues of brown on the skin) and a tad overly salty. The soya sauce chicken fared slightly better with tender meat and a spot of sweetness.
Lean Meat Century Egg Congee - The lean meat century egg congee was a tad too watery and bland for my liking. Ditto the scallop congee (forgot to take a picture), which was watery and extremely bland. Forgettable.
Bird's Nest Egg Tart - Flaky but sans the buttery goodness that I would normally associate with tarts. The custard was mildly sweet whilst the strands of birds nest offered a nice gelatin texture to the mix. Decent but no great shakes.
BBQ Pork Puff - One of my favourite dim sum dishes, Jin Shan's rendition of the BBQ pork puff was average at best and nowhere near my personal favourite at Yan Ting. The pastry was too thick and as with the egg tarts, lacked the buttery, oven baked goodness that I personally like. And I could only make out the taste of the pork floss atop as the char siew filling was rather bland.
With a 10% discount, the 4 of us chalked up a bill of about $180, which is quite a bit higher than what I usually pay at Wah Lok. Food quality was average at best and service was definitely below that of a restaurant in a 5 star hotel. Read. Grouchy at times and unhelpful to say the least. The only thing going for the restaurant is its bright, cheery ambience. Will I go back? Definitely not!
1=SGD 0.0587
Decided on this high tea for a staff makan session as they were having a 1-4-1 with UOB (max of 2 free) or 2 1 with ANZ - both for high tea 3-5pm from Mondays to Thursdays. For the 7 of us, the 2 promos ende dup being the same - $229 for 7pax in total.
I visited this place once before they renovated and was not impressed so it was time to give them a chance. As it turned out, my post-reno experience is much better.
The cafe was really crowded when we went on a Tuesday afternoon at 3pm. Everyone dont need to work?!
Cold dishes - quite a nice variety of cold stuff: fresh prawns on ice (really fresh!), assorted sushi, DIY salad, smoked salmon. Rather tasty.
Breads - about 4-5 selection but I didnt try any. Who eats breads at buffets?
Hot dishes - Indian curries and pratas, assorted dim sum, chinese stir fries, baked goods like scones, pizzas, and popiahs. A nice mix of cuisines I must say.
Cooking stations - DIY where you pick and take your own ingredients like veg, bean sprouts, fish cakes take your own noodle type pass to the chef to blanch. When done, just choose the soup base you want from Ba Kut Teh, Prawn noodle, Mee siam, and laksa. Not too bad and very comforting.
Desserts - More local desserts like tao suan, kuehs, and mini cakes. Ice cream is available but flavours were boring. There's also a DIY ice kachang station too.
The buffet includes coffee and tea too.
Service was nothing to complain about, with very efficient fervently staff clearing plates at the beginning, but I guess they ran out of steam towards the end.
Still a nice meal in a nice environment nonetheless but I wouldnt come back if there aren't any promo.
Rating given:
I decided to have a beer with a friend at Medz while having 2 hours to kill in between stuff, attracted by the 1-4-1 promotion going on. We flipped through the table tentage menu placed on the counter for a while before decided on the kronenburg which is listed as $13.22 on the menu.
When the bill came, it was $15. We asked the staff why and they said ' (pointing to the table tentage menu) oh that's the old menu. All our prices have gone up by 15% now". HUH?? We asked for the new menu reflecting indicating the new prices and was told "its only ready in about 1week". oOOOKAY.
How difficult is it to print paper menu indicating new prices? Even temporary ones will do. Or even a signage indicating and explaining the price hike. They obviously know customers are looking at outdated prices and yet say nothing, leaving only until I check the bill to clarify - and its only because I clarified to which they responded. What about customers who dont have time to check their bills? Keeping quiet and playing ignorant shows there is something wrong with the way they are running the business.
I do believe this is a deliberate attempt to mislead customers into paying more than what is correct. Everyone should avoid this place until they sort out what is correct.
Eventually, a person who appears to be more senior just said "if you like we will charge you the old prices" and we were refunded the difference. But with no apologies and not at all sorry.
Rating given:
I like Food Republic as they seem to have better food than KouFu or Kopitiam. The wisma location is a much better option then the Ion counterpart in terms of quality and price, plus its generally less crowded.
This is my default post-gym dinner place but recently the prawn noodle soup stall has closed down. I also tried the dim sum stall's congee once and it was quite good. The toast box also makes for a good tea time pit-stop.
My current favorite is the sliced fish bittergourd noodle soup - for $4.80 you get a generous portion of fresh sliced fish and thick noodles swimming in flavourful broth.
Just dont try the 麻辣香锅 - it is not too bad but it is unexpectedly expensive! Of course it depends on the amount and type of veg you pick but it still adds up to about $8-10 for one person. Too ex for a simple foodcourt meal.
For passioncard members, you get a 10% discount on weekdays too :))
Rating given:
I bought a Groupon voucher for $58 which includes 1 hour massage 1 hour facial 10min detox foot soak. I thought it was a good deal, no?
The reception area gave us quite a good impression as it looked really nice, plus clean and tidy. The usual filling up of particulars, changing of robes etc, was in line.
A note too that they dont have washrooms of their own so visit one before you go for your appointment.
What the voucher says:"
- Welcome Drink and Snack
- 60 minute Full Body Massage
- 60 minute Kerstin Florian Facial
- 10 minute Detox Foot Soak
Choose from 4 types of massages:
- Customised
- Aromatherapy
- Oriental
- Fusion
Massage - - the massage started before I could ask about the choice of massage stated on the voucher. Oh well. The therapist was not too bad with her firm strokes and pleasant enough throughout the whole treatment.
Facial - the facila was normal, with cleansing, exfoliating, steam, extraction, and masking. I like it that they use a hand mix mask instead of a sheet mask.
Foot soak - we were told it was a sea salt detox mask but it looked like plain water to me.
The welcome drink and snack became a 'farewell' thing as they only served us during our food soak which was the last treatment. Nothing to shout about crappy ham and mayo heavy sandwiches. I also asked them why we werent given a choice of the massage as stated on the voucher and the masseur said oh because she used a combi of all 4 massages. RRiiiight.
Rating given:
I unfortunately didnt get the chance to dine her as the pre-order experience was not pleasant at all.
We had a group of 10pax and struggled to find seats enough for the group. So we ended up moving dirty tables together. The 2 staff was busy with other things behind the counter.. other things except helping to clean the tables. Granted we asked them for permission before we started moving the tables but was met with only disgruntled agreement.
Finally we got around to looking at the menu and a few of us walked up to the counter to look at the vegetables they have on offer. After maybe 30seconds, the staff told us in an impatient tone - "order please queue here".
I took that to mean we were not welcome and the whole group walked off thereafter. Good luck to having customers with such crappy attitude.
Rating given:
Chanced upon this tiny hole in a wall when needing a break from my heavy gym bag...how ironic. We decided to take up their tea set at $10 which gives you a choice of tart coffee / tea. I also was surprised at how many savories they have (choice of carbs or salad with your choice of meat / veg) despite having such a small set up.
They have only about 4 tables each sitting 4pax best of luck in finding seats!
Lime passionfruit tart - passionfruit creamux centre topped with key lime mousse, on a coconut rice crispy base - disappointingly un-refreshing. Had expected it to have a bit more zing instead of just being sweet and not sourish. No strong taste of lime, passionfruit, nor coconut either.
Blood orange macha tart - blood Orange mousse with a milk chocolate cremeux centre, atop a disk of Matcha streusel base - again no strong taste of matcha although the blood orange dome was quite nice.
Cappuccino - not too bad and comes with latte art too.
A nice place to chill with girl friends but I do feel they need to be stronger in their flavours to stand out in the increasingly cake / pastry / coffee Millennia Walk. Fika, 3-inch, Twelve cupcakes etc are all not too far away butt anything advantage is an advantage.
Rating given:
I was given a voucher which gave me a choice for 2 treatments - a 90min essential glow face spa (with stress relieving back massage) or a 45min slimming treatment. I picked the face spa on a Saturday evening at Liat Towers.
1st impression - the first thing I saw was several (about 5-6) staff huddled around the reception discussing things. Not a very welcoming sight. I arrived at 6:05pm for my 6:15pm appointment and went to the washroom and asked to fill up particulars as usual.
Pre-Treatment - I was asked to change my shoes before being led to the treatment room. I was told that my face will be cleansed before being analysed and thereafter the appropriate treatment will be done. But what they meant by 'appropriate treatment' was the appropriate hard selling. And so I was told after being pinched / pulled on the face a few times that my pores are very clogged and stuff that i put on my face / that they will put on my face will be useless. I was highly recommended a champagne enzyme at 'only $68', with the original price at $360. Of course i said no. And so the treatment started.
Treatment - The back massage lasted a grand total of ONE minute. Finished. Then the usual cleansing, extraction, mask, then sleeping. Very slip shoddy work and attitude, almost like they couldnt wait to get rid of me. Okay blame me for not agreeing to pay $68?
Post treatment - I was told I'm done after the mask was cleaned off and saw the time was 7:25pm. When asked for feedback, I told them I was surprised that it ended early. A staff quickly said oh she has to go check my appointment time. Another staff joined in soon, and I was told by both of them that oh I arrived at 6:05pm, and that the 90min includes the consultation, changing of clothes, and etc etc and they state 90min on the voucher because they didnt want customers to feel rushed. They added that the actual facial is around 1 hour...really???? And so I asked about why it says 'deep cleansing' on the description for the face spa - I was told deep cleansing means extraction included. I dont see how deep it was.
I didnt make too much noise as the voucher was given to me free but I did feel cheated and will advise anyone against paying for treatments there as they are not honest in their trade.
Rating given:
We were enamoured by the cute sheep figurine parked at the entrance of the shop and drawn by the prospect of having pancakes for brunch on a late Sunday morning.
Located along the narrow and sometimes congested East Coast Road, just diagonally opposite I12 Katong, Batter Fluffy Flaps or BFF for short, boasts a cute, sheep centric interior and menu. Great if you are into cutesy stuff.
The both of us had the BFF special, which included 2 drinks, 2 pancakes dishes (savoury or sweet) and 1 side to share. For drinks we ordered the Cookies & Cream ice blended and the Pure Caramel Coffee Blended; Both decent but a tad watered down. And I guess you can't really go wrong with drinks?
Honey Baked Chicken Wings - I'm sorry to say this but the wings suffered 50% burns on the outside but remained relatively unscathed on the inside. Read. Relatively raw with blood still seeping through. Very badly executed and we gave up after the 2nd wing.
Fish Flaps - This was essentially deep fried fish fillet served with tartar sauce, coleslaw and 2 flapjacks. The fish fillets had way too much flour and very little fish but was still palatable though you would probably need a lot of tartar sauce to down that much flour. Coleslaw was a tad too creamy, rich and sourish for my liking. On a slightly more positive note, the pancakes were quite fluffy (though smallish) and well cooked, but the accompanying "maple syrup" tasted like the hotcake syrup that MacDonalds uses. That's definitely not maple syrup for sure.
Banana Bonanza - 2 pieces of pancakes topped with sliced bananas, vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce and walnuts. Average tasting though the pancakes were quite fluffy. The bananas could have been grilled to achieve a certain degree of caramelisation whilst the ice cream was evidently from the tub as I could find ice chips in it. The sole saving grace was the relatively generous serving of walnuts.
The BFF special cost the both of us $42.80, which was honestly a rip off for the quality of food. Please heed my advise on this place; Look past the cute facade and name and give this place a miss.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
We were craving for something different on a lazy Sunday morning and made the trek far east to Changi Village for brunch at Chock Full Of Beans or CFOB for short.
As the name suggests, CFOB specializes in coffee; a drink which I seldom partake in and have absolutely zero knowledge on save for the fleeting knowledge that it exists. Tucked away in a corner shophouse along Changi Village Road, the place is packed on a late Sunday morning and you can choose to wait in line for a table or leave your contact number (the preferred option).
Omelette With 3 Fillings - We chose salmon, cheese and mushrooms for the fillings and the omelette came served with 2 thick slices of homemade toast and a toss of greens. Ingredients were a little sparse and the egg wasn't creamy enough but at such a price point ($12), I really can't complain.
Eggs Benedict - The Eggs Benedict sported a generous serving of ham but minimally runny yolks on a slice of hard toast and topped with a rather liquid hollandaise sauce. Average.
Buttermilk Waffles With Caramelized Bananas - Burnt at the bottom and a tad too stodgy, the buttermilk waffles were rather bland and came with whipped cream instead of the usual maple syrup. Topped with sweet bananas that could do with a little more grilling for extra caramelization. Average.
Iced Hazelnut Latte - As mentioned earlier, I know nothing about coffee but I did like the hazelnut latte, which was pretty soothing with a hazelnut tinge. But the main draw is definitely the cute 3D art, which is never quite the same even on the same day (ie. blue ribbon vs red ribbon). And at $6.50 a pop, it was worth the money and the wait, considering the effort and skills required.
Brunch set the both of us back by almost 40 bucks, which was relatively reasonable considering the quantity of food (quality was average) and of course the beautiful latte art. I understand that GST has since been incorporated so prices would have gone up a little but I'll probably be back just for the coffee and maybe to try the desserts.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Was itching to try out somewhere new for dim sum instead of the usual favourites thus settled for Jin Shan Restaurant (金山楼) at Marina Bay Sands one late Saturday morning.
Located within the confines of the hotel (not the shopping mall), Jin Shan sat on an elevated platform on the ground floor. Natural sunlight peered through the huge glass panels that lined the side, making for a comfortable and cheery atmosphere. Unfortunately this also meant that some tables were subjected to more sunlight than others.
Abalone Pork Dumpling - We started off with the abalone siew mai, which was a joke, seriously. The siew mai itself was decent without encapsulating too much fatty meat but the abalone had a very raw taste that spoilt the whole dish. Gross.
Jin Shan Signature Rice Rolls - The signature cheong fun was actually a combination of scallop, BBQ pork and deep fried beancurd skin rice rolls. The fillings were decent but the rice rolls were too thick for my liking and lacked the silkiness of good cheong fun.
Steamed Asparagus with Prawns Dumpling - Prawns and crunchy asparagus deftly wrapped in translucent dumpling skin and topped with a smidgen of roe; Decent but nothing too surprising.
Fresh Shrimp Dumpling - Crunchy prawns and acceptably thin dumpling skin. No burst of flavour though.
Steamed Custard Buns - Rich custard oozed out when we broke into the buns but sadly, the custard was just sweet without the saltiness and rough texture of egg yolk which would have made this dish great.
Deep Fried Prawn with Mango - This dish was a little interesting although not exactly in a good way. The prawns and mango bits were wrapped in dumpling skin, deep fried till crisp and topped with sesame seeds. I could make out the taste of the prawns and sesame seeds but sadly, the mango was non existent.
Fried Carrot Cake - A tad crisp on the outside without coming across as too mushy on the inside. Average tasting at best.
BBQ Combination - I think a good yardstick of any dim sum place is its roasted/BBQ meats (烧腊) and as pretty as our BBQ combination (roasted pork & soya sauce chicken) looked, it didn't quite match up. For starters, even though the roasted pork's skin was crisp, it wasn't evenly roasted (as evident from the different hues of brown on the skin) and a tad overly salty. The soya sauce chicken fared slightly better with tender meat and a spot of sweetness.
Lean Meat Century Egg Congee - The lean meat century egg congee was a tad too watery and bland for my liking. Ditto the scallop congee (forgot to take a picture), which was watery and extremely bland. Forgettable.
Bird's Nest Egg Tart - Flaky but sans the buttery goodness that I would normally associate with tarts. The custard was mildly sweet whilst the strands of birds nest offered a nice gelatin texture to the mix. Decent but no great shakes.
BBQ Pork Puff - One of my favourite dim sum dishes, Jin Shan's rendition of the BBQ pork puff was average at best and nowhere near my personal favourite at Yan Ting. The pastry was too thick and as with the egg tarts, lacked the buttery, oven baked goodness that I personally like. And I could only make out the taste of the pork floss atop as the char siew filling was rather bland.
With a 10% discount, the 4 of us chalked up a bill of about $180, which is quite a bit higher than what I usually pay at Wah Lok. Food quality was average at best and service was definitely below that of a restaurant in a 5 star hotel. Read. Grouchy at times and unhelpful to say the least. The only thing going for the restaurant is its bright, cheery ambience. Will I go back? Definitely not!
See all my pictures here.
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