Was searching for a decent caterer for the first party Yebber is throwing. And recalled the great spread of food catered at my previous workplace, so I decided to give them a try.
These were served at the Yebber's party... Tossed Garden Greens with Baby Potatoes Butter Tiger Prawn with Oatmeal Hawaiian Chicken Cutlet with Pineapple Thai Style Mango Fish Fresh Broccoli with Assortment Pacific Clams Sausages & Papadem with Cheese & Thai Dip *HOT Sunny Pilaf with Cashew Nuts Petite French Pastries *HOT Festive Punch
I'm posting these up with photos first tonite. Will review it when I'm sober. Time to crash...
Review to be continued...
Let me get down to business with this caterer's review... First the presentation - Its one of the better ones that I've seen. Instead of placing everything on the same level with simple plain white table cloth, Harvest has got boxes below the cloth to make the presentation nicely, placing dishes on different levels. And they created a feel of class with the gold and silver cloth. Their sauces was also served in nice white soup bowl instead of plastic bowls. Food was nicely placed and the presentation is welcoming. Makes you want to grab more food.
The Food - This was a Season special menu at $16/pax. Tossed Garden Greens with Baby Potatoes Just like any other salads. Fresh greens and nicely halved baby potatoes. If they'd provided more sauces, it'll be even better. The one that came with it was Thousand Island. Not so friendly for those ladies watching the diet.
Butter Tiger Prawn with Oatmeal - Photo This was the one that looks the most appetizing. While the man was setting up, everyone was eyeing on the prawns! It looks big and delicious. When we finally get our hands on the prawns, its was good. But it would have been better if it was warm. You can taste the butter and the oatmeal was kinda soggy after being wrapped up in foil. This was one of the better dish that night.
Hawaiian Chicken Cutlet with Pineapple - Photo The looks of this dish makes one want to give it a miss. The pineapple dressings on the chicken has almost blended into the used-to-be-crispy chicken skin. The chicken skin was soggy and the taste of the supposed to be Hawaiian taste wasn't present. Kind of disappointed with this one.
Thai Style Mango Fish After the entire night, than I realised one thing. We should have poured the bowl of salsa sauce lookalike onto the fish before we eat them! I was puzzled when there's this extra bowl of vegetables on the table, but thought it could have been complimentary or something. Hope some of you did know that the sauce was for the fish and had put some over the fish before you eat it. So silly of me!
The fish (w/o the salsa sauce) tasted plain. There was a little fishy smell and again the fish was soggy. But still edible. Guess the caterer should try to find a way to prevent their food to turn soggy during the delivery process. The warmer provided was insufficient to really heat up the food. Perhaps an additional warmer per dish might help better.
Fresh Broccoli with Assortment Pacific Clams - Photo Nicely cooked broccoli with not-so-fresh pacific clams. It might just be my taste bud, but the clams had a strong smell. I love clams but this one I didn't even wanted to have a second helping. Still this dish was well presented. I still enjoyed the broccolis and mushrooms.
Sausages & Papadem with Cheese & Thai Dip *HOT - Photo This must be the hottest item that night. Nacho Papadem with cheese! I can't imagine eating this combi before that night. But now I'm craving for it! The Papadem was fresh and crispy. Dipped into the cheese dip and yummy! Perfecto! Love it! The sausages were normal chicken sausages, as usual, this is the easiest to eat finger food. The thai dip and cheese makes it even better.
Sunny Pilaf with Cashew Nuts As usual, the rice for all catering is always the least favorite. There were plenty left after that night. Not sure if anyone else notice, there were shrimps cooked with the rice. We should have mixed the rice a little before eating, cos I think most of the shrimps were hidden at the bottom of the rice. The obvious ingredients was the cashew nuts and raisins. This one still not bad, rice was a little fragrant and the shrimps used was fresh. Definitely better than most of the fried rice I had at other catered meals.
Petite French Pastries *HOT - Photo Too little of these were served! Pastries were nicely made and it was not too sweet. Chilled at the right temperature that doesn't cos the pastries to become too soft. Didn't get to try the cream puffs as they were gone when I went back wanting to try one. Had couple of the chocolate ones, and it was gone when I wanted more. Will surely order this again the next time.
Overall, I still like and enjoyed the food by Harvest. Will probably order from them again for my future events. Value-for-money.
On a sidenote, you might want to get them to set-up an hour prior to your event. That night, the guy came late and he took quite awhile to set-up on his own. I was quite nervous when guests started coming in when he was still setting up. And the food had to be heated up before consuming. So it's advisable to plan way ahead for them to set-up and allow sufficient time for the food to heat up.
The sudden craving for japanese food lead me up all the way to the fifth floor of heeren shopping centre. Not that i am complaining, its just that 5 floors of walking and taking escalator is tiring, especially for someone who is extremely hungry. :P Oh well, nevertheless i still hope that all this walking is worth it.
Ordering food was not a very smooth process, i can say. I intended to take some food from the belts but due to the lack of varieties available, i decided to call the staffs. However,i waved my hand high up to for quite sometime, no staff came forward to take my order. Perhaps the location where i sat is rather off the main area, but still, i feel that they should make an effort to take care of every customer needs.
I ordered the following items: Teriyaki chicken set, (this is their discounted lunch set which cost less than 10 bucks -- very worth for japanese food with that price :P) ; Soft shell crab handrolls ; fried potato ; fried toufu ; cold soba ; etc.
I especially loved the soft shell crab handroll that i have eaten in their outlet once. The crisp hot soft shell crab when combined with the rice plus seaweed tastes simply fantastic. However, to my dismay, this time round the soft shell crab is not hot at all.
The same goes to the fried toufu and potato. I was pretty disappointed with the food, as i have waited for approximately 30 mintues and yet the food that were served were COLD!
Overall, i feel that their japanese food is pretty normal and decent, they would have fared better if they ensure that their food is warm. This i feel, will be able to give customer a better impression.
Its been a long time since i had Claypot Rice, somehow, it seems to have disappeared from mainstream cuisine so much so that its difficult to locate a decent place to have this old tradition. I have, however, long heard of a shop that specializes in claypot cuisine somewhere along East Coast Road and that's where we went.
Simple, unassuming and boring would most probably describe the restaurant. The tables were sparsely located using a yellowish color scheme and round tables of different sizes. Clearly a place designed for big gatherings and get-togethers as there were only a handful of tables designed for less then 4 people. The impression was also not helped by the fact that at dinner time, there was only a handful of patrons in the restaurant, a clear sign of decline? Nevertheless, we pressed on.
Pickles ($1) - Complimentary starters or should i say compulsory starters? Either way, the pickles were sour and did their job of whetting my appetite. Paying for it didn't help my impression though.
Handmade Beancurd with Seaweed, Mushrooms and Vegetables ($8) - The bean curb was soft but not smooth on the inside, it didn't help that the only taste it had came from the soy sauce base below which made it extremely salty. The same goes for the tasteless mushrooms and horribly cut vegetables. Its pretty obvious they did not spend alot of time getting this to the table.
Yam Ring ($12) - Yam rings are one of my favourite dishes when its done right and their rendition is the perfect example of a yam ring done seriously wrong. The cashew nuts were a little soggy, prawns were not fresh enough to be sweet nor crunchy and the chicken meat was tasteless. However, mediocre fillings aside, the greatest disappointment of the day is the yam ring itself. Notice the second shot depicting the insides of the yam ring? The was no yam. The ring has obviously been fried so many times that the yam has charred and disappeared, even then, they dared to serve it to the customers. Horrible.
Claypot Rice ($10) - The star of the day, the claypot rice i came for. This was at least decent. Fragrant and soft rice cooked in claypot and stirred in our presence. The chicken was also decidedly tender and sweet which helped ease my unhappiness a little. The best part of the rice is the wok hei present near the bottom of the claypot. Unhealthy yet delectable. This dish is at least worthy of the commercial review it garnered.
The bill came up to $34 for 2 people which is alot more then i was willing to pay for given the horrible quality of the initial offerings.
I would have enjoyed the meal if all i ordered was the claypot rice. In fact, i would say going for the rice alone is worth it but anything else is a serious waste of money. That said, my recommendation is still, not to visit because the money is better spent elsewhere.
This place is jz outside the gym which I am going so it makes a great place for dinner after that. No need to walk that much also Haa...
Since we are there almost near to their closing time, it is peaceful and quiet. A nice relaxing place to have dinner and chit chat at the same time. Seems like others who jz knocked off or jz looking for a quiet place to have dinner also go there.
There are indoor and outdoor seats (under shelter), as it is near to closing time, they had closed the indoor seats, so we only got outdoor seats. Their seats are like those little jap seats with a cushion on it. The seats are a bit low, feels like a little kid seating in those little chairs. Haa....
Since it was after office hours, so there was not much of a crowd. we ordered:
1. Teriyaki Chicken Ramen: The soup is nice and creamy, with the addition of corn and seaweed does make the whole soup taste even better. The noodles are very chewy and tasty as it managed to absorb the soup. Good.
The teriyaki chicken is serves hot on a seperate plate. It is crispy hot, yet tender and juicy inside. The sauce is sweet and fragant and makes the chicken more tasty than ever. I thought it is supposed to be fried but seems like theirs came in the formed of fried chicken cutlet.
2. Takoyaki: This one also came pipping hot but the disappointment is did not taste the octopus as the mince it instead of leaving a chunk in the middle of the ball. It came with lots of mayo and the fish skin flakes which I like it!
3. Mayo Prawn: Came off the fryer and crispy with mayo and black seasme seeds. The prawn seem a little flat or no meat but it is very juicy inside and crispy on the outer as well.
The good thing thing is all dishes came to us very hot and fresh as well.
The cost of the dinner is only $27 including drinks (one orange juice and one ice green tea with lemon) and the service is good and fast as they dun have much customers anyway.
Surprisingly, that they actually shared the place with a thai resturant next door as well. So they served both jap and thai food. They will give you 2 sets of menus. Good way to make customer confused to order more food. Haa.... Think will try their thai food soon. Haa.....
This is one of the Hong Kong cafes that pops up out of no where and it is always crowded as well. The queue there used to be longer, however I know their off peak hours and Had a few tea breaks there and found the food there quite good.
1. Mini drumlets: Came in a hot plate, with the meat of the drumlet pushed to the front, so that the bone can be used to hold. It is very tasty yet not really oily. The seasoning of the drumlets is done to prefection, not to sweet and not too salty and all the seasoning went into the meat.
2. HK style cheese bakes rice with chick chop: I personally dun really like cheese, but this dish is a bit surprise for me as it is not that cheesey and the rice is all soft and not hard from the baking. The cheese is soft and hot when served, it does not really harden up when I am eating as well. They got a layer of sauce that is on top of the rice which is quite good.
3. French Toast: I used to think this is sinful as it is deep fried, so full of oil! However this is not oily, and it came in a very thick piece, with a layer of peanut butter inside! Very nice! The thickness of the toast did surprised us at first, as this is the 1st time we saw such thick piece. The combination of the peanut butter in the toast is a very good one! Tasty!
4. Fresh Lemon Honey with Aloe Vera: I loved anything with aloe vera and have to say this is refreshing. The aloe vera are cut in big cubes, very crunchy, it is not bitter at all. For the drink itself it is not too sweet.
The service there is ok but my last visit they served a few dishes to our table which we did not order. Hee.... Should have accpeted it.
If not their service are quite ok, once ur hands are slightly rasied, they will have at least 2 people rushing to your table as well. Once seated they will also served the curtlerys in a small little tray.
The seats arrangement can be quite squeezed at times, close enough to hear what the other table is talking about. However they also got seats are are isolated as well. A bit nosiy when the palced is packed and at times have kids running ard as well. Dangerous though, dunno what the parents are thinking anyway.
I think I will only go to this place if I am ard vivocity and in the mood for some hongkong food, would prefer them to expand their menu to include more dim sum though.
We decided to go there during lunch hour for dim sum buffet yesterday. Haha... I would say that the food is really cheap & good. For just $11.90 on weekdays and $14.90 on weekends & PHs for the dim sum buffet. But it's only available between 11.30am to 2.30pm daily.
They serve a good variety of dim sum such as char siew bao, siew mai, har kao as well as other dishes like carrot cake, chicken feet (not that nice though, abit hard), prawn-paste chicken wings, stir-fried vegetables, etc. In fact, there's like 30 dishes on their menu. On top of these, they also serve desserts like mango puddings and gui ling gao at the end.
Food-wise, it's really thumbs up for the price we are paying. But talking about their service, it's really quite bad. The waitress was very fierce to us and it took them very long to serve us our dishes. Yes, so you got to be prepared to wait if you intend to go there for cheap & nice dim sum then.
Went ot waraku and have dinner a few days ago. Afraid that the queue is very long but it turns out that there is no queue and we were ushered to a table fast. I am surprised as it is dinner time.
I think I am lucky cos less than 5 mins I am seated, the queue is already forming at the table outside. Lucky us. Haa...
It is also a good idea to make reservation however even with that be prepared to wait for a while.
We ordered
1. Mixed Yakitori: It got chicken, chicken meatballs, mushroom, bacon etc. Together with the sauce, it is good. I loved it. Plus it came on a hot plate with a flame below keeping it hot.
2. Tonpei Yaki: This is egg and bacon over a bed of lettuce. It is not oily and light. Makes it good to eat.
3. Age Dashi Tofu: The tofu is done prefectly, cripy outside and soft inside. The sauce is also not too salty. The only thing is do they need to serve 4 pcs of tofu in such a big bowl?
4. Tori Kaminabe: I like to eat these soup base "steamboat. This one does not disappoint me as well. The miso soup base is not salty as expected.
5. Teriyaki Chicken Don: This one is eaten by my fren. Formt he looks of it, must have been good cos he did not leave a single grain of rice in the bowl. Hee...
The service there is quite attentive however it sook sometime for the bill to come, so i walked over to the cashier to settle the bill instead.
The cost of the meal comes up to $58, Consider good and cheap as the portion are quite big as well.
Think if not of the queue, I might go there for my jap food more often!
Sakae sushi recently branched out to the Teppenyaki business in their first all out table top cooking outlet at Tampines Century Square. Boasting 33 outlets all over Singapore, the green frog logo has more or less solidified its presence and made a handsome profit. So how does the Teppenyaki outlet fare?
Located directly opposite Sakae sushi, the new outlet is surrounded by tanks carrying live lobster, oysters and crayfish. There were about 3 cooking counters which can hold up to 24 customers at any one time. Everything looks clean and well distributed.
Classic Juice ($4) - Ordering drinks usually come across as a big no-no for me when i visit restaurants due to cut-throat prices and generally bad tasting drinks. Not this time though, the juice is delightfully refreshing with the stronger taste of peach complimenting the lighter tasting apple juice. I have been scouring department stores ever since for this beverage, anyone with information on this please let me know.
Vegetable salad with crab meat, seaweed and assorted greens - The complimentary appetizer was light and fresh with crunchy greens like lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and cabbage. Not too bad but nothing special either
Normal Japanese Rice - This is just simple sticky Japanese rice. However, it is possible to ask for garlic fried rice which would prove to be a much better choice as we witnessed it fried with butter, garlic, bean sprouts and eggs. The result was pretty pleasing for the nose but we unfortunately did not have that. Oh! This is at additional charge of course.
Pan Fried Salmon and Garlic Fried Beef Tenderloin, Mayonnaise Oyster and Pan Fried Foie Gras (Goose Liver), Chawan Mushi and Toufu, Pan Fried Chicken Cubes in Teriyaki Sauce and Wild Shittake Mushrooms.
The Completed Chicken Set ($17.90) - My gf had the chicken set and basically, i got to try almost everything. The chicken cubes were sweet and fragrant but a little on the tough side when chewing. The salmon is really hard and hardly held much taste which is a stark contrast from the toufu which was a tad too salty and the oyster, which is the most delightful of the lot, fresh and sweet. The mushrooms compensated the lack of bean sprouts and were soft, fragrant and chewy at the some time.
The Completed Beef Set ($19.90) - The beef set came with a generous helping of beef which i perceive as tenderloin since there is a distinct layer of fat present in it. The goose liver is smooth and evenly pan fried to goodness but compared to Humble house and Zambuca, they have a long way to go. Toufu and mushrooms are the same as the above and the Chawan Mushi was very good. It was smooth, fresh and sweet because we saw the ingredients as it was prepared. Nicely done.
A rather satisfying Teppenyaki meal if i do say so myself only came at the cost of $51.32. Not too expensive but if the location could be improved on a little more, this might be worth another look.
The variety it offers in the set meals are a refreshing take on a tired Teppenyaki menu. Still, you can't fault them for being innovative. I would describe this as a fusion of old school cooking with new world tastes. The question to be had is whether this gives them an edge over the competition who relies on not changing to meet demands. My answer to that is: Wait and see. I can't say i didn't enjoy the meal but somehow it still feels like something is lacking. Probably the posh feeling or maybe i just prefer ala carte ordering. Still, worth a look for budget consumers.
I love The Soup Spoon! The last time I went was a few years ago and I was happy to go again recently to find that it has expanded! There's more seating area now although it's really cramped cos they tried to put as many seats as possible. On weekday evenings, the place was absolutely brimming with people! It was sheer luck that my friend and I managed to get a table!
Food Ordered: Seafood Clam Chowder in Bread Bowls - 2 servings Tuna Mayo Sandwich A bottle of Snapple
I love the clam chowder ($8.20) because it's so thick and flavourful! And it's fun eating up the whole bowl with it. One serving of this is actually enough for two people so my friend and I were absolutely full after...
The Tuna Mayo Sandwich was tasty but not extraordinarily. Serving is just right for one person, provided you don't order anything else much.
The total bill came up to about $25, which I find very reasonable since we ordered enough to feed 3 people. Definitely worth many more visits!
I knew about this well hidden place when my cousin decided to hold his ROM there. I was dropped off from the main gate and it was a long walk from there. I was sweating like a pig when I reached there.
It was a buffet and found the place to be a good place from some romantic moments. They got both outdoor and indoor seats. At every 2nd and last sunday, they will have a jazz band playing as well.
The food to me is quite up to standard.
One of my fav is the crisp black pepper soft shell crab with wasabi sauce. I personally dun like wasabi, but their sauce is really so good that I can simply lick it of the plate. The crab is also not oily yet crispy.
Their mains are quite good and their portions are quite big as well.
Their desserts limited but still got some good choices inside them. The warm bittersweet chocolate torte is one of my favs as well. With melted choco hidden inside the coc cake, together with some strawberries. Simply fantastic!
The service is pretty good and prompt as well, the waitress are also willingly to recommend their specialties for you.
If you wanna to eat in a place where it is in the city yet you dun feel like you are in the city. This is the place for you!
The only thing I dun like is this place is a bit unaccessible for those who dun have transport.
1=SGD 0.0587
Was searching for a decent caterer for the first party Yebber is throwing. And recalled the great spread of food catered at my previous workplace, so I decided to give them a try.
These were served at the Yebber's party...
Tossed Garden Greens with Baby Potatoes
Butter Tiger Prawn with Oatmeal
Hawaiian Chicken Cutlet with Pineapple
Thai Style Mango Fish
Fresh Broccoli with Assortment Pacific Clams
Sausages & Papadem with Cheese & Thai Dip *HOT
Sunny Pilaf with Cashew Nuts
Petite French Pastries *HOT
Festive Punch
I'm posting these up with photos first tonite. Will review it when I'm sober. Time to crash...
Review to be continued...
Let me get down to business with this caterer's review...
First the presentation - Its one of the better ones that I've seen. Instead of placing everything on the same level with simple plain white table cloth, Harvest has got boxes below the cloth to make the presentation nicely, placing dishes on different levels. And they created a feel of class with the gold and silver cloth. Their sauces was also served in nice white soup bowl instead of plastic bowls. Food was nicely placed and the presentation is welcoming. Makes you want to grab more food.
The Food - This was a Season special menu at $16/pax.
Tossed Garden Greens with Baby Potatoes
Just like any other salads. Fresh greens and nicely halved baby potatoes. If they'd provided more sauces, it'll be even better. The one that came with it was Thousand Island. Not so friendly for those ladies watching the diet.
Butter Tiger Prawn with Oatmeal - Photo
This was the one that looks the most appetizing. While the man was setting up, everyone was eyeing on the prawns! It looks big and delicious. When we finally get our hands on the prawns, its was good. But it would have been better if it was warm. You can taste the butter and the oatmeal was kinda soggy after being wrapped up in foil. This was one of the better dish that night.
Hawaiian Chicken Cutlet with Pineapple - Photo
The looks of this dish makes one want to give it a miss. The pineapple dressings on the chicken has almost blended into the used-to-be-crispy chicken skin. The chicken skin was soggy and the taste of the supposed to be Hawaiian taste wasn't present. Kind of disappointed with this one.
Thai Style Mango Fish
After the entire night, than I realised one thing. We should have poured the bowl of salsa sauce lookalike onto the fish before we eat them! I was puzzled when there's this extra bowl of vegetables on the table, but thought it could have been complimentary or something. Hope some of you did know that the sauce was for the fish and had put some over the fish before you eat it. So silly of me!
The fish (w/o the salsa sauce) tasted plain. There was a little fishy smell and again the fish was soggy. But still edible. Guess the caterer should try to find a way to prevent their food to turn soggy during the delivery process. The warmer provided was insufficient to really heat up the food. Perhaps an additional warmer per dish might help better.
Fresh Broccoli with Assortment Pacific Clams - Photo
Nicely cooked broccoli with not-so-fresh pacific clams. It might just be my taste bud, but the clams had a strong smell. I love clams but this one I didn't even wanted to have a second helping. Still this dish was well presented. I still enjoyed the broccolis and mushrooms.
Sausages & Papadem with Cheese & Thai Dip *HOT - Photo
This must be the hottest item that night.
NachoPapadem with cheese! I can't imagine eating this combi before that night. But now I'm craving for it! The Papadem was fresh and crispy. Dipped into the cheese dip and yummy! Perfecto! Love it! The sausages were normal chicken sausages, as usual, this is the easiest to eat finger food. The thai dip and cheese makes it even better.Sunny Pilaf with Cashew Nuts
As usual, the rice for all catering is always the least favorite. There were plenty left after that night. Not sure if anyone else notice, there were shrimps cooked with the rice. We should have mixed the rice a little before eating, cos I think most of the shrimps were hidden at the bottom of the rice. The obvious ingredients was the cashew nuts and raisins. This one still not bad, rice was a little fragrant and the shrimps used was fresh. Definitely better than most of the fried rice I had at other catered meals.
Petite French Pastries *HOT - Photo
Too little of these were served! Pastries were nicely made and it was not too sweet. Chilled at the right temperature that doesn't cos the pastries to become too soft. Didn't get to try the cream puffs as they were gone when I went back wanting to try one. Had couple of the chocolate ones, and it was gone when I wanted more. Will surely order this again the next time.
Overall, I still like and enjoyed the food by Harvest. Will probably order from them again for my future events. Value-for-money.
On a sidenote, you might want to get them to set-up an hour prior to your event. That night, the guy came late and he took quite awhile to set-up on his own. I was quite nervous when guests started coming in when he was still setting up. And the food had to be heated up before consuming. So it's advisable to plan way ahead for them to set-up and allow sufficient time for the food to heat up.
Rating given:
The sudden craving for japanese food lead me up all the way to the fifth floor of heeren shopping centre. Not that i am complaining, its just that 5 floors of walking and taking escalator is tiring, especially for someone who is extremely hungry. :P Oh well, nevertheless i still hope that all this walking is worth it.
Ordering food was not a very smooth process, i can say. I intended to take some food from the belts but due to the lack of varieties available, i decided to call the staffs. However,i waved my hand high up to for quite sometime, no staff came forward to take my order. Perhaps the location where i sat is rather off the main area, but still, i feel that they should make an effort to take care of every customer needs.
I ordered the following items: Teriyaki chicken set, (this is their discounted lunch set which cost less than 10 bucks -- very worth for japanese food with that price :P) ; Soft shell crab handrolls ; fried potato ; fried toufu ; cold soba ; etc.
I especially loved the soft shell crab handroll that i have eaten in their outlet once. The crisp hot soft shell crab when combined with the rice plus seaweed tastes simply fantastic. However, to my dismay, this time round the soft shell crab is not hot at all.
The same goes to the fried toufu and potato. I was pretty disappointed with the food, as i have waited for approximately 30 mintues and yet the food that were served were COLD!
Overall, i feel that their japanese food is pretty normal and decent, they would have fared better if they ensure that their food is warm. This i feel, will be able to give customer a better impression.
Rating given:
Its been a long time since i had Claypot Rice, somehow, it seems to have disappeared from mainstream cuisine so much so that its difficult to locate a decent place to have this old tradition. I have, however, long heard of a shop that specializes in claypot cuisine somewhere along East Coast Road and that's where we went.
Simple, unassuming and boring would most probably describe the restaurant. The tables were sparsely located using a yellowish color scheme and round tables of different sizes. Clearly a place designed for big gatherings and get-togethers as there were only a handful of tables designed for less then 4 people. The impression was also not helped by the fact that at dinner time, there was only a handful of patrons in the restaurant, a clear sign of decline? Nevertheless, we pressed on.
Pickles ($1) - Complimentary starters or should i say compulsory starters? Either way, the pickles were sour and did their job of whetting my appetite. Paying for it didn't help my impression though.
Handmade Beancurd with Seaweed, Mushrooms and Vegetables ($8) - The bean curb was soft but not smooth on the inside, it didn't help that the only taste it had came from the soy sauce base below which made it extremely salty. The same goes for the tasteless mushrooms and horribly cut vegetables. Its pretty obvious they did not spend alot of time getting this to the table.
Yam Ring ($12) - Yam rings are one of my favourite dishes when its done right and their rendition is the perfect example of a yam ring done seriously wrong. The cashew nuts were a little soggy, prawns were not fresh enough to be sweet nor crunchy and the chicken meat was tasteless. However, mediocre fillings aside, the greatest disappointment of the day is the yam ring itself. Notice the second shot depicting the insides of the yam ring? The was no yam. The ring has obviously been fried so many times that the yam has charred and disappeared, even then, they dared to serve it to the customers. Horrible.
Claypot Rice ($10) - The star of the day, the claypot rice i came for. This was at least decent. Fragrant and soft rice cooked in claypot and stirred in our presence. The chicken was also decidedly tender and sweet which helped ease my unhappiness a little. The best part of the rice is the wok hei present near the bottom of the claypot. Unhealthy yet delectable. This dish is at least worthy of the commercial review it garnered.
The bill came up to $34 for 2 people which is alot more then i was willing to pay for given the horrible quality of the initial offerings.
I would have enjoyed the meal if all i ordered was the claypot rice. In fact, i would say going for the rice alone is worth it but anything else is a serious waste of money. That said, my recommendation is still, not to visit because the money is better spent elsewhere.
Rating given:
This place is jz outside the gym which I am going so it makes a great place for dinner after that. No need to walk that much also Haa...
Since we are there almost near to their closing time, it is peaceful and quiet. A nice relaxing place to have dinner and chit chat at the same time. Seems like others who jz knocked off or jz looking for a quiet place to have dinner also go there.
There are indoor and outdoor seats (under shelter), as it is near to closing time, they had closed the indoor seats, so we only got outdoor seats. Their seats are like those little jap seats with a cushion on it. The seats are a bit low, feels like a little kid seating in those little chairs. Haa....
Since it was after office hours, so there was not much of a crowd. we ordered:
1. Teriyaki Chicken Ramen: The soup is nice and creamy, with the addition of corn and seaweed does make the whole soup taste even better. The noodles are very chewy and tasty as it managed to absorb the soup. Good.
The teriyaki chicken is serves hot on a seperate plate. It is crispy hot, yet tender and juicy inside. The sauce is sweet and fragant and makes the chicken more tasty than ever. I thought it is supposed to be fried but seems like theirs came in the formed of fried chicken cutlet.
2. Takoyaki: This one also came pipping hot but the disappointment is did not taste the octopus as the mince it instead of leaving a chunk in the middle of the ball. It came with lots of mayo and the fish skin flakes which I like it!
3. Mayo Prawn: Came off the fryer and crispy with mayo and black seasme seeds. The prawn seem a little flat or no meat but it is very juicy inside and crispy on the outer as well.
The good thing thing is all dishes came to us very hot and fresh as well.
The cost of the dinner is only $27 including drinks (one orange juice and one ice green tea with lemon) and the service is good and fast as they dun have much customers anyway.
Surprisingly, that they actually shared the place with a thai resturant next door as well. So they served both jap and thai food. They will give you 2 sets of menus. Good way to make customer confused to order more food. Haa.... Think will try their thai food soon. Haa.....
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This is one of the Hong Kong cafes that pops up out of no where and it is always crowded as well. The queue there used to be longer, however I know their off peak hours and Had a few tea breaks there and found the food there quite good.
1. Mini drumlets: Came in a hot plate, with the meat of the drumlet pushed to the front, so that the bone can be used to hold. It is very tasty yet not really oily. The seasoning of the drumlets is done to prefection, not to sweet and not too salty and all the seasoning went into the meat.
2. HK style cheese bakes rice with chick chop: I personally dun really like cheese, but this dish is a bit surprise for me as it is not that cheesey and the rice is all soft and not hard from the baking. The cheese is soft and hot when served, it does not really harden up when I am eating as well. They got a layer of sauce that is on top of the rice which is quite good.
3. French Toast: I used to think this is sinful as it is deep fried, so full of oil! However this is not oily, and it came in a very thick piece, with a layer of peanut butter inside! Very nice! The thickness of the toast did surprised us at first, as this is the 1st time we saw such thick piece. The combination of the peanut butter in the toast is a very good one! Tasty!
4. Fresh Lemon Honey with Aloe Vera: I loved anything with aloe vera and have to say this is refreshing. The aloe vera are cut in big cubes, very crunchy, it is not bitter at all. For the drink itself it is not too sweet.
The service there is ok but my last visit they served a few dishes to our table which we did not order. Hee.... Should have accpeted it.
If not their service are quite ok, once ur hands are slightly rasied, they will have at least 2 people rushing to your table as well. Once seated they will also served the curtlerys in a small little tray.
The seats arrangement can be quite squeezed at times, close enough to hear what the other table is talking about. However they also got seats are are isolated as well. A bit nosiy when the palced is packed and at times have kids running ard as well. Dangerous though, dunno what the parents are thinking anyway.
I think I will only go to this place if I am ard vivocity and in the mood for some hongkong food, would prefer them to expand their menu to include more dim sum though.
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Dim Sum! That's one of my favourite!
We decided to go there during lunch hour for dim sum buffet yesterday. Haha... I would say that the food is really cheap & good. For just $11.90 on weekdays and $14.90 on weekends & PHs for the dim sum buffet. But it's only available between 11.30am to 2.30pm daily.
They serve a good variety of dim sum such as char siew bao, siew mai, har kao as well as other dishes like carrot cake, chicken feet (not that nice though, abit hard), prawn-paste chicken wings, stir-fried vegetables, etc. In fact, there's like 30 dishes on their menu. On top of these, they also serve desserts like mango puddings and gui ling gao at the end.
Food-wise, it's really thumbs up for the price we are paying. But talking about their service, it's really quite bad. The waitress was very fierce to us and it took them very long to serve us our dishes. Yes, so you got to be prepared to wait if you intend to go there for cheap & nice dim sum then.
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Went ot waraku and have dinner a few days ago. Afraid that the queue is very long but it turns out that there is no queue and we were ushered to a table fast. I am surprised as it is dinner time.
I think I am lucky cos less than 5 mins I am seated, the queue is already forming at the table outside. Lucky us. Haa...
It is also a good idea to make reservation however even with that be prepared to wait for a while.
We ordered
1. Mixed Yakitori: It got chicken, chicken meatballs, mushroom, bacon etc. Together with the sauce, it is good. I loved it. Plus it came on a hot plate with a flame below keeping it hot.
2. Tonpei Yaki: This is egg and bacon over a bed of lettuce. It is not oily and light. Makes it good to eat.
3. Age Dashi Tofu: The tofu is done prefectly, cripy outside and soft inside. The sauce is also not too salty. The only thing is do they need to serve 4 pcs of tofu in such a big bowl?
4. Tori Kaminabe: I like to eat these soup base "steamboat. This one does not disappoint me as well. The miso soup base is not salty as expected.
5. Teriyaki Chicken Don: This one is eaten by my fren. Formt he looks of it, must have been good cos he did not leave a single grain of rice in the bowl. Hee...
The service there is quite attentive however it sook sometime for the bill to come, so i walked over to the cashier to settle the bill instead.
The cost of the meal comes up to $58, Consider good and cheap as the portion are quite big as well.
Think if not of the queue, I might go there for my jap food more often!
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Sakae sushi recently branched out to the Teppenyaki business in their first all out table top cooking outlet at Tampines Century Square. Boasting 33 outlets all over Singapore, the green frog logo has more or less solidified its presence and made a handsome profit. So how does the Teppenyaki outlet fare?
Located directly opposite Sakae sushi, the new outlet is surrounded by tanks carrying live lobster, oysters and crayfish. There were about 3 cooking counters which can hold up to 24 customers at any one time. Everything looks clean and well distributed.
Classic Juice ($4) - Ordering drinks usually come across as a big no-no for me when i visit restaurants due to cut-throat prices and generally bad tasting drinks. Not this time though, the juice is delightfully refreshing with the stronger taste of peach complimenting the lighter tasting apple juice. I have been scouring department stores ever since for this beverage, anyone with information on this please let me know.
Vegetable salad with crab meat, seaweed and assorted greens - The complimentary appetizer was light and fresh with crunchy greens like lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and cabbage. Not too bad but nothing special either
Normal Japanese Rice - This is just simple sticky Japanese rice. However, it is possible to ask for garlic fried rice which would prove to be a much better choice as we witnessed it fried with butter, garlic, bean sprouts and eggs. The result was pretty pleasing for the nose but we unfortunately did not have that. Oh! This is at additional charge of course.
Pan Fried Salmon and Garlic Fried Beef Tenderloin, Mayonnaise Oyster and Pan Fried Foie Gras (Goose Liver), Chawan Mushi and Toufu, Pan Fried Chicken Cubes in Teriyaki Sauce and Wild Shittake Mushrooms.
The Completed Chicken Set ($17.90) - My gf had the chicken set and basically, i got to try almost everything. The chicken cubes were sweet and fragrant but a little on the tough side when chewing. The salmon is really hard and hardly held much taste which is a stark contrast from the toufu which was a tad too salty and the oyster, which is the most delightful of the lot, fresh and sweet. The mushrooms compensated the lack of bean sprouts and were soft, fragrant and chewy at the some time.
The Completed Beef Set ($19.90) - The beef set came with a generous helping of beef which i perceive as tenderloin since there is a distinct layer of fat present in it. The goose liver is smooth and evenly pan fried to goodness but compared to Humble house and Zambuca, they have a long way to go. Toufu and mushrooms are the same as the above and the Chawan Mushi was very good. It was smooth, fresh and sweet because we saw the ingredients as it was prepared. Nicely done.
A rather satisfying Teppenyaki meal if i do say so myself only came at the cost of $51.32. Not too expensive but if the location could be improved on a little more, this might be worth another look.
The variety it offers in the set meals are a refreshing take on a tired Teppenyaki menu. Still, you can't fault them for being innovative. I would describe this as a fusion of old school cooking with new world tastes. The question to be had is whether this gives them an edge over the competition who relies on not changing to meet demands. My answer to that is: Wait and see. I can't say i didn't enjoy the meal but somehow it still feels like something is lacking. Probably the posh feeling or maybe i just prefer ala carte ordering. Still, worth a look for budget consumers.
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I love The Soup Spoon! The last time I went was a few years ago and I was happy to go again recently to find that it has expanded! There's more seating area now although it's really cramped cos they tried to put as many seats as possible. On weekday evenings, the place was absolutely brimming with people! It was sheer luck that my friend and I managed to get a table!
Food Ordered:
Seafood Clam Chowder in Bread Bowls - 2 servings
Tuna Mayo Sandwich
A bottle of Snapple
I love the clam chowder ($8.20) because it's so thick and flavourful! And it's fun eating up the whole bowl with it. One serving of this is actually enough for two people so my friend and I were absolutely full after...
The Tuna Mayo Sandwich was tasty but not extraordinarily. Serving is just right for one person, provided you don't order anything else much.
The total bill came up to about $25, which I find very reasonable since we ordered enough to feed 3 people. Definitely worth many more visits!
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I knew about this well hidden place when my cousin decided to hold his ROM there. I was dropped off from the main gate and it was a long walk from there. I was sweating like a pig when I reached there.
It was a buffet and found the place to be a good place from some romantic moments. They got both outdoor and indoor seats. At every 2nd and last sunday, they will have a jazz band playing as well.
The food to me is quite up to standard.
One of my fav is the crisp black pepper soft shell crab with wasabi sauce. I personally dun like wasabi, but their sauce is really so good that I can simply lick it of the plate. The crab is also not oily yet crispy.
Their mains are quite good and their portions are quite big as well.
Their desserts limited but still got some good choices inside them. The warm bittersweet chocolate torte is one of my favs as well. With melted choco hidden inside the coc cake, together with some strawberries. Simply fantastic!
The service is pretty good and prompt as well, the waitress are also willingly to recommend their specialties for you.
If you wanna to eat in a place where it is in the city yet you dun feel like you are in the city. This is the place for you!
The only thing I dun like is this place is a bit unaccessible for those who dun have transport.
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