Sometimes back, I was told that De Coder's Cafe opened a new outlet in Clementi. The boss is now a friend of mine after some past "commotions" and constructive feedback few of us gave after the unsatisfying meal on my birthday last year. But I'm happy to say that they've improved! Not to the extend that it turned their entire menu around to serve restaurant standard food, but the taste, variety and quality have surely become better.
I visited this new outlet of theirs at Clementi, located at the void deck of a very long flat. About 7-9 mins walk from the Clementi MRT station. The shop is spacious and has the same color scheme as their other outlet at Newton.
As its a neighbourhood, they're also catering for the people staying around with breakfast sets. And I was told this was included in their menu after hearing feedback from their regular customers living nearby. Thumbs up for them for responding to customers request. And I believe, they really want to make their food and service good for everyone.
Food tasted that day includes Nacho Chips & Cheese, Roasted Honey Wings, Americaya, Teriyaki Chicken Chop, Brownie with Vanilla Ice-Cream, Waffle with Gelato Ice Cream, Chocolate Decadence and Oreo Milkshake.
My friend and I love the cheese. It's better than those served at one of the cinema but not as thick as we would have liked it more. But definitely the yummy cheesy taste is there.
Next favorite that day was the Roasted Honey Wings. Roasted to the right texture and the skin is slightly crisp. Marination was good too as the honey has been absorbed into the meat too.
Servings of the main dishes were appetizing and attractive. The size is good to fill up most hungry stomachs.
The late lunch ended with lots of sweetness. Both of us love the waffles and the pistachio gelato ice-cream is of good quality too. I personally love it!
Overall the experience and food has improved. Guess they should already have made the same adjustments too at their Newton outlet. Perhaps if you'd been there before and didn't like the food then, give it another try. You might enjoy it more this time round.
I've always meant to try out Chinese Box, a Chinese restaurant owned and operated by the same folks who holds the rights to Black Angus in Singapore. So when an opportunity to try out their food came knocking, I jumped at it.
Opened in January this year, Chinese Box is hidden in the far reaches of the NUS law campus at Cluny Road. Getting there can be quite a headache as there are no clear signs as to how to reach the restaurant even within the compounds of the school itself. Housed on the first level of an old restored colonial bungalow (Black Angus takes the second level), Chinese Box boasts a classical chinese interior with a dash of colonial grandeur. Think white washed pillars, overhanging oriental lamps and and red translucent curtains.
Soft Shell Crab Roll & Vietnamese Mango and Duck Roll - The soft shell crab roll was crisp with a fleeting taste of sourish mango. I couldn't quite make out any taste of soft shell crab though, as it was overwhelmed by the leafy taste of the greens. The mango and duck roll fared slightly better. Drizzled with sweet sauce, it wasn't as leafy as the crab roll and I could still make out a faint fowl taste and texture. Not exactly the best way to start of the meal in my humble opinion.
Poet Drunken Chicken & Taro Strings - Honestly its the first time I'm having taro strings so its quite a refreshing change from the norm. Soaked in Szechuan chilli oil, the strings tasted a little like vermicelli, albeit a little firmer and thicker, making for a nice chewy and fiery sensation. The drunken chicken was well marinated in Chinese wine but came across as a little too salty.
Chinese Box Signature Beijing Duck - Apparently, this is a signature dish of Chinese Box but I honestly thought that though palatable, it was no big deal. The skin was a wee bit crisp and served with meat, all wrapped up in a thin egg crepe, with some cucumber slices thrown in for the works. I have definitely eaten much better ones before.
TeoChew TaiPan Superior Thick Shark's Fin Soup - The broth was thick and savoury without coming across as nausea inducing. The single fin was of quite a decent size but its texture reminded me somewhat of vermicelli, which was rather unnerving. I could make out a mild ginger taste in it as well. Decent but could be better.
Pan Fried Cod Fish Fillets in Superior Soy Sauce - Well fried till crisp but lacked the natural sweetness or smoothness of cod. Probably the redeeming factor would be the sweet sauce that came drizzled atop, without which, the fish would have tasted bland.
Signature Golden Roast Duck & Teochew Five Spice Meats Roll - Another signature duck dish, this time served with a roll of wu xiang. The duck's skin was rather limp and certainly didn't impress while the wu xiang had a nice crisp exterior belying an overly soft interior that was lacking in robustness of taste.
Stir-Fried Taiwan Pea-shoots - The pea shoots aka dou miao (豆苗) was quite well fried - not too soft yet retaining enough juices and mildly salty.
Signature Golden Tofu Bar with Sauteed Mushrooms - I think the word signature is used to death already. The word raises expectations a few notches and its cruel to be brought back down to reality. I like my tofu savoury with a hint of smokiness but Chinese Box's offering, though smooth, lacked just that. I liked the topping of mushrooms and dried scallops though.
Garlic Steamed Fresh Scallop w/ Tofu - A huge steamed scallop showered with lots of deep fried garlic (a personal favourite) and fresh chopped garlic, served on a bed of steamed tofu. The garlic provided a nice crunch and aroma but covered the sweetness, if any, of the scallop. The tofu was smooth but not exactly soft while the gravy had egg white in it. All in all, I thought that the idea was there, just that the execution and proportions could have been better.
Taro Paste"Orni" w/ Pumpkin & Gingko Nuts - I love this effort intensive traditional Teochew dessert and have been fortunate enough to try out quite a number of renditions in Singapore and overseas. My take on Chinese Box's variation? Smooth but not fragrant, probably due to the exclusion of lard in it. And the taste wasn't robust enough for my liking. On the upside, it wasn't too sweet, which was a good thing.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the management of Chinese Box for inviting me for this food tasting and to wish them well in their future endeavours.
Had a craving for burgers and heard about this new burger stall, Bergs, which apparently is the brainchild of 2 Aussies who had embarked on a futile attempt to find the perfect burger. Frustrated, they decided to open an eatery that served up fresh burgers cooked/made on the spot.
Situated within the nostalgic Far East Square, Bergs offers al fresco seating along the side walks and a not so cool air conditioned interior that reminded me of a school tuck shop with its wooden tables and matching chairs and an open kitchen (where you can see your burgers being made) to boot.
Chips - The burgers do not come with any sides so we started off with an order of chips, which came served in a doggy bag. The chips looked machine cut but were thick and probably weren't of the frozen variant. Firm on the outside with a light handful of salt yet soft and moist on the inside.
Crikey - There is an option of having your burger done in 2 sizes - small or Bergs. I naturally opted for the latter. 2 huge pieces of freshly grilled beef patties and 2 pieces of bacon, all with grill lines to show for it, rather elastic edam cheese, lettuce and evenly toasted sesame buns - Seriously, what's not to like? Well perhaps the overdoneness of the beef would be one. The patty didn't conceal any reddish tinges within and the exterior was a little too charred. But at least I could taste the mild uneveness of the meat. Did I mention that the burger was huge?
Alamack - This fish burger's name is a weird pun on the Malay word, alamak, which loosely translates to "oh my god". Funny names aside, the burger came with 2 chunks of fish which were lightly battered with crumbs and came across as tasty without being too fishy. Although this wasn't a Berg's size burger, it was still quite a handful.
Bergs is probably one of the more expensive fast food places I've ever tried, but portions are generous and service is great. Food quality could improve, especially for the beef patties but throw in an almost crowd free environment on weekday/weekend evenings and its a huge draw, especially for people who value peace and quiet, like yours truly. And to borrow Carl Junior's slogan about their burgers, "It's gonna get messy".
What better way to enjoy life like a gourmet than to go for buffets! And being in Singapore, aren't we just spoilt for choice, with all the wonderful buffets at the hotels like the Straits Kitchen, The Line etc. Having ever heard a little something about a buffet at Merchant Court, I thought this place would be worth a try. Further, at something like $26.90 per pax for lunch buffet, I thought it was one of the cheaper places with, what I thought was, good food. So off we go!
Upon reaching there, parking was convenient, perhaps because it was on a weekday. For dining in, we got parking rebate too. So free parking!
The Cafe was rather packed when we got there - 45 min before the close of the buffet line. Managed to get ourselves a table for two by the window, nearer to the main section of the buffet. The table wasn't properly laid when we were ushered in, and in a rush to give us our table, the waitress actually forgot to place all items on the table. When I asked her for it, she didn't quite understand me either, as her English wasn't very strong. Also, the table wasn't very clean, which I usually dislike as it didn't allow me to put my belongings on the table without dirtying it. Ice water was provided but wasn't regularly refilled even when the Cafe wasn't that busy (as people were gradually leaving the place). I was rather disappointed with their service, considering how I would expect much more from a hotel cafe.
Service is of course secondary at a dining place since what matters more is of course the food. Well, the food was not that amazing either. The buffet line had a spread of dessert, rice, dishes, noodles, japansese stuff, salad and soup. Sounds like a lot, but I think the desserts could have made a good spread on its own. In other words, I found the main course disappointing.
Rice and dishes It was just a small variety of approximately 8 different dishes or so I think. Some peranakan and international dish e.g. roast duck slices, chicken, prawn (something like sweet and sour style), kang kong (that was actually pretty bad in my opinion), sea cucumber (over cooked) etc. And I thought I would be stuffing myself silly with that spread of food.
Noodles It's just one Abalone Mushroom noodle. The soup tasted weird, noodles weren't boiled long enough hence was a little hard still. And there was something like Top Shell (I wouldn't believe that there would have been abalone) in the soup that tasted awful.
Salads, soup and others Salad was nothing much, just a bit of greens with sauce. Soup.. if I did not recall wrongly, there was only one Crab Bisque that didn't smell appetizing (and so I didn't try, especially being so turned off by the rice and dishes). Sushi was bad - rice was too dry and sticky. There was one thing good though - it was something Japanese but I never figured what it was.
Desserts It seems like this could have been the most sumptuous part of the buffet. Desserts of different styles. You have your cakes and fruits; you also have the hot soup desserts like Tang Yuan. There was also apple crumble and bread and butter pudding.
Up to this stage, the food began to seem rather boring to me and so I didn't have much appetite for more. But the bread and butter pudding and apple crumble was not too bad.
It is unfortunate the food wasn't up to standard. I don't think I will be going back for the lunch buffet anymore...
Another weekend, another Sunday brunch. But its the first time I'm having Chinese ala carte buffet for brunch and expectations were relatively high as Jing @ One Fullerton is under the same management as Majestic Restaurant, which has won top accolades for its Chinese food.
Ambience
Typical modern Chinese restaurant but what sets it apart is the huge glass windows that allow plenty of sunlight in as well as views of the partially constructed IR just across the river. The booth seats look comfortable for a party of 3 or 4 but unfortunately we were relegated to the center tables. There is the problem of weak air conditioning too.
Variety
You get about 20 odd different types of dim sum , a tiny self service buffet station with duck, fruits and minimal desserts and the standard 4-5 items each of seafood, meat, vegetables, rice, noodles and the likes. There are certain restrictions on certain items. Ie. you get to choose 1 serving of either Chilli Crab or Soon Hock and soups are limited to 2 servings per table. If you are keen on the more premium items like boston lobster or shark's fin soup, be prepared to top up at least $10++ to $18++ more per pax for 1 portion. Drinks are chargable and the only things that are free flow are the Chinese tea and sky juice.
Quality
The quality is merely average in my humble opinion. Nothing quite stands out but nothing really sucked terribly either. If I had to choose, the best dish would probably be the crispy duck from the carving station. All in all, the dishes were palatable but honestly, don't expect too much. Think Crystal Jade La Mian XLB standard.
Service
Average service from wait staff that didn't seem very keen on serving. When I called to make a reservation, the lady on the other end of the phone wasn't particularly friendly either. No big boo boos but could be a lot better.
Value for money
At $36++/pax ($42.40 nett), I honestly thought that it was a little over the top. Food quality was generally average, the spread not exactly the most extensive and service, forgettable. I fail to see how Jing could have made a name for itself with such standards.
I would have never imagine this; I froze at the mention of it, the sacred foie gras. And hold on a second, what were they saying, I thought I heard something like Juicy dumpling with foie gras. Wasn’t this supposed to be XLB, now where did the foie gras came into the picture?
Believe it or not, they actually contain the French delicacy within our XLB, well maybe just a morsel of it since there wasn’t any trace of the foie gras.
Fresh, is one of the word which has been over-used to describe food. How else would you use to depict the prawn within the crisp vermicelli, well maybe I would say juicy, succulent, and I ran out of vocabulary. Oh well. Deep-fried filo dough.
It was wet, a little moist inside, so I stuck my finger in, and poked it in a little further. I took a bite, beneath the crispy exterior, was duck shreds. Deep-fried yam croquette with minced duck.
I was caught by surprise when they told me this was called the Deep-fried scallops with sugar cane. I was happily biting it off the sugar cane (read: I use it), thinking it was very prawny, and there they were, telling me it was deep-fried scallop!
Naturally I was amused, how could scallop taste like prawn? Ignoring that, the slightly-sweet-slightly-sour sauce was most excellent - it was refreshing. And the sugar cane added some brownie points to the whole artistic value.
May I introduced to you, ladies and gentleman, the scarce Harm Soei Gok, or Deep-friend traditional chicken dumpling. Honestly, I did not know about its existence before this, since many places didn’t served it due to the complexity and effort needed to produce it.
The whole, Shark’s fin within the soup, it was so big! With an equally flavourful stock, all of us agreed that the Double-boiled dumpling with Shark’s fin was a delight, well maybe not for the sharks lovers.
I liked this. I’m a char siew sou man. And I was disappointed when there was no sight of it on the menu. And then the baked fluffy skin pie with chicken and mango came. Having the same (or almost) crispy, buttery pastry skin, the interior of the usual char siew was replaced by chicken and mango instead. And the marriage of chicken and mango was a good one, those two totally complimented each other well.
How can one reinvent a dish already done to death and found everywhere? Well, they either provide premium stuffing or reinvent the skin used to wrap the stuffing. For the steamed pork dumpling, they did neither but it was still a cut above the rest. The prawn was sweet and there wasn’t an overly-porky after-taste.
My, my. It was interesting to note, a mini version of claypot rice appearing in a restaurant. Call it a classic, the Mini pot rice with chicken was nothing mini in taste; the tasty Chinese sausages, the succulent mushrooms, and the tender chicken chunks. I had it a taste without any sauce initially, then I added some of the superior sauce that came along with it, and it did wonders - it literally enhanced the taste of the whole mini pot.
There was three different types of steamed rice roll served, but I just showed one photo since all rice rolls looked the same less the fillings. It was the standard-trio, scallops, char siew and prawn. And needless to say, most Chinese restaurants definitely uses fresh ingredients, so it was really down to the rice roll to determine the winner.
And I must say, Man Fu Yuan had silky smooth rice roll, and most importantly, they were not overly-thick.
I never liked beef balls, or for that matter, any type of meat balls. Just the sight of it made me full, I took a bite of the beef balls with bamboo pith, and unexpectedly, it wasn’t as heavy as I thought it would be. And there’s tripes at the bottom of the beef balls too.
It is a fine line between tradition and new, and I feel Man Fu Yuan balanced it very well. There are the traditional dim sum available for the purist who want their fix regularly, and not neglecting those who craved for innovation and excitement in their dining experience, the chefs played around with some other ingredients that are not commonly used in Chinese cuisine.
This marks the end of the dim sum marathon, and I must say I’ve enjoyed myself very much together with the rest; chatting and enjoying the good food. My appreciation to Sharon, the PR 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!
Was in the mood for a leisurely and luxurious Sunday brunch to whittle my time away and what better place to have it then at the opulent St Regis? Having a sizable discount definitely helped steer my decision though.
Ambience
Les Saveurs spots high ceilings with huge glass windows running to the ground, which gives a soaring and almost carefree feeling. Victorian style chandeliers add a sophisticated touch of class and so do the matching chairs and carpet. In short, a great place to relax and enjoy your food. There is a 3 man band just outside the restaurant that will belt out different tunes throughout the brunch to add to the experience.
Variety
The brunch comprises 3 components - The eye catching dessert table and the appetisers table, your choice of a main course from the menu and last but not least, daily chef's specials that are "hawked" from table to table. The daily specials make up quite a substantial portion of the brunch and can range from fried rice to cod fish to foie gras or even shooters. The appetisers table has quite a decent amount of food like foie gras, salmon & tuna sashimi, oysters, air dried wagyu beef and the likes. There is even a small counter where rows of beautifully baked buns, muffins, croissants etc tempt even the most staunch carbo abstainers. And may I add that the dessert counter was so aesthetically and exquisitely presented that I had the urge to start on desserts first before anything else.
Quality
For the most part, food quality was consistently good and no expense was spared in ensuring that. Everything is made bite sized so that you are able to try a wider variety. I particularly liked the macarons, which were almost on par with Pierre Herme's signature macarons that I had the privilege of trying sometime back. Overall, I thought that the food quality far surpassed my expectations and can put quite a few buffets in some reputable hotels to shame.
Service
Professional and seemingly eager but tended to be overwhelmed at times, especially with the restaurant running at full capacity.
Value for money
At $128 for the non champagne aka fruit juice/tea option, it is probably one of the priciest brunches in the market right now but food quality is evident. If you opt for the moet and chandon option, it will cost you $158 while premium champagne like Krug will set you back by a princely $338 /pax. Final words, if you have the cash to blow and 3 hours to spare, Les Saveurs might just be the place for you.
If you're looking for some cheap CDs or cheap clothes or very chinese stuffs, you can come to CK Departmental stores! There are 2 outlets in outram area, one is on the chinatown side and another is in pearl centre side in this building opposite the OG which i could not recall what building is that.
Both outlets sells nearly the same things however the outlet at the Chinatown side apparently has got more stuffs.. If you like cheap DVDs or anything else for your viewing and listening leisure, yesss... this is the place to hang out.... The clothes are not very fashionable or of a good make however they are pretty value for money for a leisure casual wear especially for children as they outgrow their clothes in the matter of minutes..
If you want to find some very chinese food stuffs, they also do carry some very chinese food stuffs direct from China.... however, its always good to read the ingredient labels and hope you do not find Melamine there.... Heh Heh!
The toiletries I find them not as cheap as the distributors on top of the foodcentre next to the OG.... and don't expect any good service from the staffs.. they usually give you the FACE... so please pick your stuffs carefully and prepare for RUGBY if you're going there on a weekend.. Expect alot of aunties with sweaty armpits and big boobs out to squash you.......
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!
1=SGD 0.0587
Sometimes back, I was told that De Coder's Cafe opened a new outlet in Clementi. The boss is now a friend of mine after some past "commotions" and constructive feedback few of us gave after the unsatisfying meal on my birthday last year. But I'm happy to say that they've improved! Not to the extend that it turned their entire menu around to serve restaurant standard food, but the taste, variety and quality have surely become better.
I visited this new outlet of theirs at Clementi, located at the void deck of a very long flat. About 7-9 mins walk from the Clementi MRT station. The shop is spacious and has the same color scheme as their other outlet at Newton.
As its a neighbourhood, they're also catering for the people staying around with breakfast sets. And I was told this was included in their menu after hearing feedback from their regular customers living nearby. Thumbs up for them for responding to customers request. And I believe, they really want to make their food and service good for everyone.
Food tasted that day includes Nacho Chips & Cheese, Roasted Honey Wings, Americaya, Teriyaki Chicken Chop, Brownie with Vanilla Ice-Cream, Waffle with Gelato Ice Cream, Chocolate Decadence and Oreo Milkshake.
My friend and I love the cheese. It's better than those served at one of the cinema but not as thick as we would have liked it more. But definitely the yummy cheesy taste is there.
Next favorite that day was the Roasted Honey Wings. Roasted to the right texture and the skin is slightly crisp. Marination was good too as the honey has been absorbed into the meat too.
Servings of the main dishes were appetizing and attractive. The size is good to fill up most hungry stomachs.
The late lunch ended with lots of sweetness. Both of us love the waffles and the pistachio gelato ice-cream is of good quality too. I personally love it!
Overall the experience and food has improved. Guess they should already have made the same adjustments too at their Newton outlet. Perhaps if you'd been there before and didn't like the food then, give it another try. You might enjoy it more this time round.
Rating given:
I've always meant to try out Chinese Box, a Chinese restaurant owned and operated by the same folks who holds the rights to Black Angus in Singapore. So when an opportunity to try out their food came knocking, I jumped at it.
Opened in January this year, Chinese Box is hidden in the far reaches of the NUS law campus at Cluny Road. Getting there can be quite a headache as there are no clear signs as to how to reach the restaurant even within the compounds of the school itself. Housed on the first level of an old restored colonial bungalow (Black Angus takes the second level), Chinese Box boasts a classical chinese interior with a dash of colonial grandeur. Think white washed pillars, overhanging oriental lamps and and red translucent curtains.
Soft Shell Crab Roll & Vietnamese Mango and Duck Roll - The soft shell crab roll was crisp with a fleeting taste of sourish mango. I couldn't quite make out any taste of soft shell crab though, as it was overwhelmed by the leafy taste of the greens. The mango and duck roll fared slightly better. Drizzled with sweet sauce, it wasn't as leafy as the crab roll and I could still make out a faint fowl taste and texture. Not exactly the best way to start of the meal in my humble opinion.
Poet Drunken Chicken & Taro Strings - Honestly its the first time I'm having taro strings so its quite a refreshing change from the norm. Soaked in Szechuan chilli oil, the strings tasted a little like vermicelli, albeit a little firmer and thicker, making for a nice chewy and fiery sensation. The drunken chicken was well marinated in Chinese wine but came across as a little too salty.
Chinese Box Signature Beijing Duck - Apparently, this is a signature dish of Chinese Box but I honestly thought that though palatable, it was no big deal. The skin was a wee bit crisp and served with meat, all wrapped up in a thin egg crepe, with some cucumber slices thrown in for the works. I have definitely eaten much better ones before.
TeoChew TaiPan Superior Thick Shark's Fin Soup - The broth was thick and savoury without coming across as nausea inducing. The single fin was of quite a decent size but its texture reminded me somewhat of vermicelli, which was rather unnerving. I could make out a mild ginger taste in it as well. Decent but could be better.
Pan Fried Cod Fish Fillets in Superior Soy Sauce - Well fried till crisp but lacked the natural sweetness or smoothness of cod. Probably the redeeming factor would be the sweet sauce that came drizzled atop, without which, the fish would have tasted bland.
Signature Golden Roast Duck & Teochew Five Spice Meats Roll - Another signature duck dish, this time served with a roll of wu xiang. The duck's skin was rather limp and certainly didn't impress while the wu xiang had a nice crisp exterior belying an overly soft interior that was lacking in robustness of taste.
Stir-Fried Taiwan Pea-shoots - The pea shoots aka dou miao (豆苗) was quite well fried - not too soft yet retaining enough juices and mildly salty.
Signature Golden Tofu Bar with Sauteed Mushrooms -
I think the word signature is used to death already. The word raises expectations a few notches and its cruel to be brought back down to reality. I like my tofu savoury with a hint of smokiness but Chinese Box's offering, though smooth, lacked just that. I liked the topping of mushrooms and dried scallops though.
Garlic Steamed Fresh Scallop w/ Tofu - A huge steamed scallop showered with lots of deep fried garlic (a personal favourite) and fresh chopped garlic, served on a bed of steamed tofu. The garlic provided a nice crunch and aroma but covered the sweetness, if any, of the scallop. The tofu was smooth but not exactly soft while the gravy had egg white in it. All in all, I thought that the idea was there, just that the execution and proportions could have been better.
Taro Paste"Orni" w/ Pumpkin & Gingko Nuts - I love this effort intensive traditional Teochew dessert and have been fortunate enough to try out quite a number of renditions in Singapore and overseas. My take on Chinese Box's variation? Smooth but not fragrant, probably due to the exclusion of lard in it. And the taste wasn't robust enough for my liking. On the upside, it wasn't too sweet, which was a good thing.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the management of Chinese Box for inviting me for this food tasting and to wish them well in their future endeavours.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Had a craving for burgers and heard about this new burger stall, Bergs, which apparently is the brainchild of 2 Aussies who had embarked on a futile attempt to find the perfect burger. Frustrated, they decided to open an eatery that served up fresh burgers cooked/made on the spot.
Situated within the nostalgic Far East Square, Bergs offers al fresco seating along the side walks and a not so cool air conditioned interior that reminded me of a school tuck shop with its wooden tables and matching chairs and an open kitchen (where you can see your burgers being made) to boot.
Chips - The burgers do not come with any sides so we started off with an order of chips, which came served in a doggy bag. The chips looked machine cut but were thick and probably weren't of the frozen variant. Firm on the outside with a light handful of salt yet soft and moist on the inside.
Crikey - There is an option of having your burger done in 2 sizes - small or Bergs. I naturally opted for the latter. 2 huge pieces of freshly grilled beef patties and 2 pieces of bacon, all with grill lines to show for it, rather elastic edam cheese, lettuce and evenly toasted sesame buns - Seriously, what's not to like? Well perhaps the overdoneness of the beef would be one. The patty didn't conceal any reddish tinges within and the exterior was a little too charred. But at least I could taste the mild uneveness of the meat. Did I mention that the burger was huge?
Alamack - This fish burger's name is a weird pun on the Malay word, alamak, which loosely translates to "oh my god". Funny names aside, the burger came with 2 chunks of fish which were lightly battered with crumbs and came across as tasty without being too fishy. Although this wasn't a Berg's size burger, it was still quite a handful.
Bergs is probably one of the more expensive fast food places I've ever tried, but portions are generous and service is great. Food quality could improve, especially for the beef patties but throw in an almost crowd free environment on weekday/weekend evenings and its a huge draw, especially for people who value peace and quiet, like yours truly. And to borrow Carl Junior's slogan about their burgers, "It's gonna get messy".
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
What better way to enjoy life like a gourmet than to go for buffets! And being in Singapore, aren't we just spoilt for choice, with all the wonderful buffets at the hotels like the Straits Kitchen, The Line etc. Having ever heard a little something about a buffet at Merchant Court, I thought this place would be worth a try. Further, at something like $26.90 per pax for lunch buffet, I thought it was one of the cheaper places with, what I thought was, good food. So off we go!
Upon reaching there, parking was convenient, perhaps because it was on a weekday. For dining in, we got parking rebate too. So free parking!
The Cafe was rather packed when we got there - 45 min before the close of the buffet line. Managed to get ourselves a table for two by the window, nearer to the main section of the buffet. The table wasn't properly laid when we were ushered in, and in a rush to give us our table, the waitress actually forgot to place all items on the table. When I asked her for it, she didn't quite understand me either, as her English wasn't very strong. Also, the table wasn't very clean, which I usually dislike as it didn't allow me to put my belongings on the table without dirtying it. Ice water was provided but wasn't regularly refilled even when the Cafe wasn't that busy (as people were gradually leaving the place). I was rather disappointed with their service, considering how I would expect much more from a hotel cafe.
Service is of course secondary at a dining place since what matters more is of course the food. Well, the food was not that amazing either. The buffet line had a spread of dessert, rice, dishes, noodles, japansese stuff, salad and soup. Sounds like a lot, but I think the desserts could have made a good spread on its own. In other words, I found the main course disappointing.
Rice and dishes
It was just a small variety of approximately 8 different dishes or so I think. Some peranakan and international dish e.g. roast duck slices, chicken, prawn (something like sweet and sour style), kang kong (that was actually pretty bad in my opinion), sea cucumber (over cooked) etc. And I thought I would be stuffing myself silly with that spread of food.
Noodles
It's just one Abalone Mushroom noodle. The soup tasted weird, noodles weren't boiled long enough hence was a little hard still. And there was something like Top Shell (I wouldn't believe that there would have been abalone) in the soup that tasted awful.
Salads, soup and others
Salad was nothing much, just a bit of greens with sauce. Soup.. if I did not recall wrongly, there was only one Crab Bisque that didn't smell appetizing (and so I didn't try, especially being so turned off by the rice and dishes). Sushi was bad - rice was too dry and sticky. There was one thing good though - it was something Japanese but I never figured what it was.
Desserts
It seems like this could have been the most sumptuous part of the buffet. Desserts of different styles. You have your cakes and fruits; you also have the hot soup desserts like Tang Yuan. There was also apple crumble and bread and butter pudding.
Up to this stage, the food began to seem rather boring to me and so I didn't have much appetite for more. But the bread and butter pudding and apple crumble was not too bad.
It is unfortunate the food wasn't up to standard. I don't think I will be going back for the lunch buffet anymore...
Rating given:
Another weekend, another Sunday brunch. But its the first time I'm having Chinese ala carte buffet for brunch and expectations were relatively high as Jing @ One Fullerton is under the same management as Majestic Restaurant, which has won top accolades for its Chinese food.
Ambience
Typical modern Chinese restaurant but what sets it apart is the huge glass windows that allow plenty of sunlight in as well as views of the partially constructed IR just across the river. The booth seats look comfortable for a party of 3 or 4 but unfortunately we were relegated to the center tables. There is the problem of weak air conditioning too.
Variety
You get about 20 odd different types of dim sum , a tiny self service buffet station with duck, fruits and minimal desserts and the standard 4-5 items each of seafood, meat, vegetables, rice, noodles and the likes. There are certain restrictions on certain items. Ie. you get to choose 1 serving of either Chilli Crab or Soon Hock and soups are limited to 2 servings per table. If you are keen on the more premium items like boston lobster or shark's fin soup, be prepared to top up at least $10++ to $18++ more per pax for 1 portion. Drinks are chargable and the only things that are free flow are the Chinese tea and sky juice.
Quality
The quality is merely average in my humble opinion. Nothing quite stands out but nothing really sucked terribly either. If I had to choose, the best dish would probably be the crispy duck from the carving station. All in all, the dishes were palatable but honestly, don't expect too much. Think Crystal Jade La Mian XLB standard.
Service
Average service from wait staff that didn't seem very keen on serving. When I called to make a reservation, the lady on the other end of the phone wasn't particularly friendly either. No big boo boos but could be a lot better.
Value for money
At $36++/pax ($42.40 nett), I honestly thought that it was a little over the top. Food quality was generally average, the spread not exactly the most extensive and service, forgettable. I fail to see how Jing could have made a name for itself with such standards.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
I would have never imagine this; I froze at the mention of it, the sacred foie gras. And hold on a second, what were they saying, I thought I heard something like Juicy dumpling with foie gras. Wasn’t this supposed to be XLB, now where did the foie gras came into the picture?
Believe it or not, they actually contain the French delicacy within our XLB, well maybe just a morsel of it since there wasn’t any trace of the foie gras.
Fresh, is one of the word which has been over-used to describe food. How else would you use to depict the prawn within the crisp vermicelli, well maybe I would say juicy, succulent, and I ran out of vocabulary. Oh well. Deep-fried filo dough.
It was wet, a little moist inside, so I stuck my finger in, and poked it in a little further. I took a bite, beneath the crispy exterior, was duck shreds. Deep-fried yam croquette with minced duck.
I was caught by surprise when they told me this was called the Deep-fried scallops with sugar cane. I was happily biting it off the sugar cane (read: I use it), thinking it was very prawny, and there they were, telling me it was deep-fried scallop!
Naturally I was amused, how could scallop taste like prawn? Ignoring that, the slightly-sweet-slightly-sour sauce was most excellent - it was refreshing. And the sugar cane added some brownie points to the whole artistic value.
May I introduced to you, ladies and gentleman, the scarce Harm Soei Gok, or Deep-friend traditional chicken dumpling. Honestly, I did not know about its existence before this, since many places didn’t served it due to the complexity and effort needed to produce it.
The whole, Shark’s fin within the soup, it was so big! With an equally flavourful stock, all of us agreed that the Double-boiled dumpling with Shark’s fin was a delight, well maybe not for the sharks lovers.
I liked this. I’m a char siew sou man. And I was disappointed when there was no sight of it on the menu. And then the baked fluffy skin pie with chicken and mango came. Having the same (or almost) crispy, buttery pastry skin, the interior of the usual char siew was replaced by chicken and mango instead. And the marriage of chicken and mango was a good one, those two totally complimented each other well.
How can one reinvent a dish already done to death and found everywhere? Well, they either provide premium stuffing or reinvent the skin used to wrap the stuffing. For the steamed pork dumpling, they did neither but it was still a cut above the rest. The prawn was sweet and there wasn’t an overly-porky after-taste.
My, my. It was interesting to note, a mini version of claypot rice appearing in a restaurant. Call it a classic, the Mini pot rice with chicken was nothing mini in taste; the tasty Chinese sausages, the succulent mushrooms, and the tender chicken chunks. I had it a taste without any sauce initially, then I added some of the superior sauce that came along with it, and it did wonders - it literally enhanced the taste of the whole mini pot.
There was three different types of steamed rice roll served, but I just showed one photo since all rice rolls looked the same less the fillings. It was the standard-trio, scallops, char siew and prawn. And needless to say, most Chinese restaurants definitely uses fresh ingredients, so it was really down to the rice roll to determine the winner.
And I must say, Man Fu Yuan had silky smooth rice roll, and most importantly, they were not overly-thick.
I never liked beef balls, or for that matter, any type of meat balls. Just the sight of it made me full, I took a bite of the beef balls with bamboo pith, and unexpectedly, it wasn’t as heavy as I thought it would be. And there’s tripes at the bottom of the beef balls too.
It is a fine line between tradition and new, and I feel Man Fu Yuan balanced it very well. There are the traditional dim sum available for the purist who want their fix regularly, and not neglecting those who craved for innovation and excitement in their dining experience, the chefs played around with some other ingredients that are not commonly used in Chinese cuisine.
This marks the end of the dim sum marathon, and I must say I’ve enjoyed myself very much together with the rest; chatting and enjoying the good food. My appreciation to Sharon, the PR 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:
Was in the mood for a leisurely and luxurious Sunday brunch to whittle my time away and what better place to have it then at the opulent St Regis? Having a sizable discount definitely helped steer my decision though.
Ambience
Les Saveurs spots high ceilings with huge glass windows running to the ground, which gives a soaring and almost carefree feeling. Victorian style chandeliers add a sophisticated touch of class and so do the matching chairs and carpet. In short, a great place to relax and enjoy your food. There is a 3 man band just outside the restaurant that will belt out different tunes throughout the brunch to add to the experience.
Variety
The brunch comprises 3 components - The eye catching dessert table and the appetisers table, your choice of a main course from the menu and last but not least, daily chef's specials that are "hawked" from table to table. The daily specials make up quite a substantial portion of the brunch and can range from fried rice to cod fish to foie gras or even shooters. The appetisers table has quite a decent amount of food like foie gras, salmon & tuna sashimi, oysters, air dried wagyu beef and the likes. There is even a small counter where rows of beautifully baked buns, muffins, croissants etc tempt even the most staunch carbo abstainers. And may I add that the dessert counter was so aesthetically and exquisitely presented that I had the urge to start on desserts first before anything else.
Quality
For the most part, food quality was consistently good and no expense was spared in ensuring that. Everything is made bite sized so that you are able to try a wider variety. I particularly liked the macarons, which were almost on par with Pierre Herme's signature macarons that I had the privilege of trying sometime back. Overall, I thought that the food quality far surpassed my expectations and can put quite a few buffets in some reputable hotels to shame.
Service
Professional and seemingly eager but tended to be overwhelmed at times, especially with the restaurant running at full capacity.
Value for money
At $128 for the non champagne aka fruit juice/tea option, it is probably one of the priciest brunches in the market right now but food quality is evident. If you opt for the moet and chandon option, it will cost you $158 while premium champagne like Krug will set you back by a princely $338 /pax. Final words, if you have the cash to blow and 3 hours to spare, Les Saveurs might just be the place for you.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
If you're looking for some cheap CDs or cheap clothes or very chinese stuffs, you can come to CK Departmental stores! There are 2 outlets in outram area, one is on the chinatown side and another is in pearl centre side in this building opposite the OG which i could not recall what building is that.
Both outlets sells nearly the same things however the outlet at the Chinatown side apparently has got more stuffs.. If you like cheap DVDs or anything else for your viewing and listening leisure, yesss... this is the place to hang out.... The clothes are not very fashionable or of a good make however they are pretty value for money for a leisure casual wear especially for children as they outgrow their clothes in the matter of minutes..
If you want to find some very chinese food stuffs, they also do carry some very chinese food stuffs direct from China.... however, its always good to read the ingredient labels and hope you do not find Melamine there.... Heh Heh!
The toiletries I find them not as cheap as the distributors on top of the foodcentre next to the OG.... and don't expect any good service from the staffs.. they usually give you the FACE... so please pick your stuffs carefully and prepare for RUGBY if you're going there on a weekend.. Expect alot of aunties with sweaty armpits and big boobs out to squash you.......
Rating given:
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: