Tao’s Restaurant was established by Mr Huang Yen Kun in June 2003. During a date with his girlfriend while still in college, they came across a famous French restaurant that was serving 7-course set meal. Mr Huang really wanted to dine in, but at $100 per set, the price was beyond what he could afford at that moment. This incident sparked off his idea of opening a restaurant that serves full 7-courses set meals at a price that will be affordable for everyone.
To further value-add the concept, the price for the set-meal is fixed. This means that customers can choose the dish of their preference for each category, without worrying about the price. In addition, there will be new dishes available for customers to choose from every 2 – 3 months.
Another special concept that Mr Huang added, was to present all dishes in specially designed “Tao Tzu” (pottery) plates (thus the name Tao’s). Tao Tzu plates in itself is a fine art, and most importantly, “Tao Tzu” has a high heat withstanding level which will help to preserve the temperature of the food in a very natural way. All these make up the unique restaurant that Tao’s currently is, and why it is well received by all its customers around Singapore
Tao’s serve a 6 course set lunch for $19.80 , and a 7 course set dinner for $28.80 . From the starters, salads, soups, to the Main entrees, desserts, until the beverages, you can pick your choice from the menu. Ordering was definitely easy for the 3 of us since under each category there isn’t that much of a option.
What we did was we look at each category and decided on the dish that we DO NOT want, for example there are four salads, we give a pass on huai san salad, and took the other 3 salad to share. That will make the whole process simpler and hassle-free isn’t it?
Bacon & Mushroom Gratin To kick-start our meal at Tao’s, we had the Bacon & mushroom gratin. At first we were unsure about the dish, because it doesn’t look appetizing to us, but to our surprise this came out really well, coupled with the soft yet fluffy bread (below), both combine together give a unique taste.
Toasted Bread Like mention above, the toasted bread is soft and fluffy, and it comes free-flow. Seriously we could just eat the bread, its so good it can be eaten on its own! No doubt the bread is free-flow, don’t gorge yourself silly, there’s more to come.
Fruit Salad The first of the three salad, the fruit salad was pretty decent, i guess out of the three salad this will be my pick. If you like fruits then this is the one for you.
Ham & Spud salad I have no idea what’s spud, i guess its refering to the potato since there is only ham, potato, and lettuce. I don’t really like the ham & spud salad so much as i find the potato to be pretty tasteless. However my dining companion is a potato-person, so she finish the whole thing without much problem
Farm Boy Splendor The name’s definitely a eye-catcher, having no idea what the salad is, i guess most people will order this one. Thats what we did. But the farm boy splendor came out quite flat, first the presence of peanut has an overwhelming effect on the lettuce and the chicken. The taste of lettuce and chicken is covered by the peanut, but we like the sour-plum dressing.
Cream of mushroom The cream of mushroom was quite similar to the one i had at Friends@Jelita. The mushroom soup has small bits of mushroom among the creamy soup. I find the soup to be quite balanced, not too creamy, not too diluted. Well, if you like your mushroom soup, this will be the one.
Shark-fin melon herbal soup One thing is for sure, there is certainly no shark-fin inside, stop looking for it. Otherwise, i find the shark-fin melon herbal soup quite similar to my mother’s home-cooked soup, thumbs up.
Fish soup The fish soup is unlike other soup you will find. First thing first, it is served not in a bowl, but in a teapot. Pouring out the soup onto a teacup, and you appreciate the soup just like you appreciate tea. Only thing is its not tea, its soup. The innovative is surely there, and the soup isn’t too fishy which makes it a good appetizer.
Baby lobster pasta in white wine sauce My favourite lobster! Unfortunately we got to be realistic, they cant possibly serve a whole lobster in a meal like this, so the baby lobster. Even so, the baby lobster still stands out, baked with cheese, the meal no doubt little, but is good.
The pasta is not my cup of tea, i found it to be too creamy, and there isn’t really the taste of white wine sauce. Nevertheless, the spaghetti is chewy, and comes in a generous helping.
Tao’s oven roasted steak We were debating what’s the yellow colour thing, at first we though it was sorbet, but after tasting, it is not. And we still haven’t figure out what is it. Anyway, Tao’s oven roasted steak is medium-rare, quite tender i will say, but then somehow that something is missing from the steak. Not excellent, but not too bad either.
Baked Atlantic flounder with cheese The presentation of the baked atlantic flounder looks nice, the cheese after baked, looks golden on the fish. Having the first bite into the fish with a layer of cheese on top, the combination is good one, as the melted cheese and the soft taste of the fish goes down well together. However, we were discussing whether there is egg used, because we do experience a very strong egg taste. Mayb a tad too much eggs used.
Ice grape mallow tea You know what? I think this is ribena, no kidding. Like ribena, the tea has grapes. hence the taste of ribena. But the ice grape mallow tea is really good, somewhat like tea, yet not like tea. If you don’t wan a strong tea smell, this one will do the job finely.
Ice rose apple tea There is the scent of rose, and the taste of apple. Blend together and you got the ice rose apple tea
lavander tea Actually we were eating our main course happily, before they served us our three teas. Then for about a few minutes or so, savouring the different tea we completely forgot about our main course. The lavander tea is all about lavander. N’uff said already.
home-made chocolate Mousse Even after a filling meal, there’s always room for dessert, and this instance was no exception. Three small cubes of home-made chocolate mousse, pop one into your mouth, and it melts instantly
Creme Brulee Compared it with the one i had at Al Dente Pronto, the creme brulee was cold while the other one is warm. Given the two, i say i will prefer the one at Al Dente Pronto, warm egg custard does taste better.
Sesame Pudding I’m not really a big fan of sesame, but the Sesame pudding turns out to be all right.
Total bill for 3 set lunch comes up to $69.90 which i must say isn’t expensive considering the fact that we are having a six course meal. The food isn’t outstanding, but its not too bad also. Located at Paradiz centre, its convenient to reach the place. The staffs are friendly, the service and the waiting time in between the different courses is fast.
However, i believe Tao's must update their menu more regularly if they wants to attract me to go back. Simply the fact that three of us share and tried most of their dishes, except for their main entries. And oh ya, please go to Tao's for their set lunch rather than set dinner, because set dinner has only one course more, grilled mango and mushroom sorbet, but it cost $9 more. Nonetheless, for the sheer variety Tao's offers, it is certainly good value if you have not been there before.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” For the sheer variety Tao’s offer, its certainly good value “
I remember frequently patronising the now defunct Dolphins Restaurant around the Macpherson area when I was still a secondary school student for its value for money set lunches and dinners. Fast forward a decade and the only hint of Dolphins existence is its flagship outlet along Genting Lane.
Oddly located on the 7th floor of an aging industrial building, it is so obscure that you would have to actually know that such a place existed. The interior is homely and reminiscent of steak houses of yesteryear (think Jack's place in the early 90s), made complete with nice booth seats in one corner.
Cream of Mushroom - The soup came with my set lunch and was rather starchy. Beats a watered down version I guess. And I'm pretty sure it came straight out of a can.
Tenderloin with Slipper Lobster - Done up medium rare, the tenderloin was decent but not outstanding. The meat tasted a little flat and could have done with some seasoning. On the up side, the slipper lobster was relatively big and sweet. But as with all lobsters, meat is always limited.
Pasta with Beef - Surprisingly, the pasta was al dente and the addition of capsicum gave this dish a very interesting twist - one that did not sit too well with me however. The beef cubes were plentiful though but lacking in taste and texture.
I guess $47 for 2 for lunch isn't exactly cheap or value for money, but I would say its still decent and definitely a nice quiet place to have a meal. That, plus the nostalgic factor and decent service, is enough for a revisit.
I have a confession to make, i’ll have to admit New Harbour Cafe wasn’t my first choice for dinner. My initial preference for our gathering was at Tuckshop (also on the same stretch of road at Tanjong Pagar).
Well, the catastrophe occurs like this, i din make any reservation because i wasn’t sure whether my friends wanted to go to Tuckshop, so we just happily set off there. It was a long 15-20 min walk from Outram MRT, please be smart and take the Tanjong Pagar MRT instead. When we finally reach Tuckshop, the whole place was empty, right at 7pm. To our dismay, the waiteress told us the cafe is fully booked at 730pm and there was NO WAY she can make space for us. Ten of us.
Now its my turn to panic, since i was the organiser and i din have a back-up plan because i thought Tuckshop will be available. We walk around (not easy to bring a big group around looking for a dining place), and finally settled on New Harbour Cafe, simply because i have no other alternatives.
At any rate, you might be wondering whether you should continue reading through this entry since i already said New Harbour cafe was because there was no other selection, well you should, don’t write off the place, just yet.
New Harbour Cafe is located at Tanjong Pagar, a whole stretch of road that houses many pubs, & wedding bridal shops. A Cafe & Bar theme concept, New Harbour Cafe was rather empty when we got there, but after we got seated the other diners soon fill up the seats.
One of the minus point of the place was the dim lighting. Definitely not a good place for food bloggers to be, well unless you got superb cameras, which i do not have as you can see from the pictures : (
N.Z Sirloin Steak & Mash ($17.90) My friend had the N.Z Sirloin Steak well done. Gosh, i was thinking can a well done steak even be eaten? To my suprise, the steak isn’t perfectly well done, there are still blood stains within.
Black Pepper Chicken Chop ($11.90) Chicken chop with black pepper sauce, accompanied with sides of mushrooms and mashed potatos
Crackling Roast Pork ($14.90) Roast Pork with crispy crackling served with daily vegetables and mashed potatos. Onion gravy topped with apple sauce. On first look, i though it looks like Roast pork (cos i didn’t see the menu), and to my astonish it really is. Now now, when did you see a cafe serve roast pork as a main before? Mayb i am not yet a experience diner around, but from what i can remember i didn’t see roast pork as main course in all my previous dining experience.
On first bite, the crackling roast pork was crispy, and the apple sauce was a refreshing change to the usual roast pork taste. The apple sauce provided little touches of tangy sweetness with each cut of roast pork. However, this is only good for people with a sweet tooth, or for sharing because the sweetness of the apple sauce does slightly overwhelm your palette. Nevertheless, it is a pleasant experience because the next time i will be able to say i got see Roast Pork as main course before!
Special Chinese New Year Pork Chop ($15.90)
We intially wanted to order Pork Chop with apple sauce, but the waitress highly recommend this instead. Personally i find the pork chop to be all right, but my friend commented that it was too tough.
Harbour Fish & Chips ($12.90) New Harbour Cafe has a column under its menu titled black board & daily special. There is something special everyday, roast leg of lamb on Mon, Madras curry being on tue, and on wed we have oxtail stew, there is the Hainanese pork chop available on thu, and of course our harbour fish & chips on the friday that we patronise the place.
The crispy exterior was complemented with the soft and fresh interior of the fish, with a faint flavouring of spices. The chips in new harbour cafe was cut in huge wedges shape which i must compliment was quite good.
Grilled Dory Fish Fillet ($12.90) We had two of this, and the result was rather pleasing. The Grilled dory fish fillet was fresh, together with a squeeze of the lemon, adds a freshing twist to the fish. The serving was generous as well, with a huge cut of fish fillet which two person can actually share.
Spaghetti Alfredo with ham & mushroom ($11.90) The spaghetti was a nice change with ham & mushroom. Now here, not that my knowledge fails me again, but i don’t remember seeing ham use frequently together with spaghetti? Or am i wrong here? But the usage of ham and mushroom gives me the feeling of pizza rather than spaghetti.
Harbour 1/2 lb beef burger ($12.90) One word for the burger, Humongous! The Harbour 1/2 lb beef burger was huge, large, enormous, and whatever word you can think of. The beef patty was definitely bigger than the one i had at Botak Jones. If you were to compare both beef burger, the one at Botak there is cheese added which gives the burger another flavouring, but harbour’s one allows the taste of the beef patty without any disturbance as there is no other extra ingredient.
The beef patty was made like all good beef patty, juicy and tender. And the serving of the burger certainly fills one up. With the harbour fries, its tough to finish up the meal.
Brownie with ice cream ($5.80) As sweet notes to end off the meal, we had the brownie with ice cream. The brownie alone is $3.80 while an additional scope of ice cream makes it $5.80. We only ordered one dessert because most of us are too full after our main course. The brownie was soft and chocolate-ly.
The total bill (10 person) for 9 mains, 7 drinks and 1 desserts comes up to $158.30, which i must say is rather reasonable. The drinks add up quite a fair bit of damages to the bill, $28 for 7 drinks. Otherwise it will even be cheaper. The one positive thing that i’ll like to highlight will be New Harbour Cafe does not charge any GST & service charge. For a large group of us, no extra charges mean easier calculation of the bill. hahahah!
However, the negative aspects of the place will be they do not serve ice water. which leads to us ordering drinks. And like what i mentioned earlier, their cafe has poor lighting, not suitable for taking photos. Service wise not much, the staff there are all foreign workers.
We saw this while we were about to leave, Makansutra salutes them in recognition of their culinary standards & quality. So they can’t be that bad after all, so give them a visit if you are in the area. Even if you don’t like the food, damages will be reduced as their prices are all in the 10s range.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Nothing beats eating with your mates, nothing! “
My parents had lunch at Boon Tong Kee, half a chicken at $13, and buy back a packet for me @ $3.80.
I'll say the chicken from Boon Tong Kee is quite good, but mayb not good until i will pay $13 for half a chicken. There are better one out there in other neighbour coffee shops really.
Today marks the second time that I am doing a review on Astons Specialities, albeit a rather short one. The first review can be found here. This time however, the location is different. That's right, Astons has a new outlet in the Serangoon Gardens estate. Unlike the original outlet, the new outlet isn't a stand alone unit by itself. Instead, it is housed inside a coffeeshop just next to HSBC and Borsch Steak House. Not really visible from the main road if you ask me, unless you happen to be walking towards the Starbucks/Cafe Cartel area.
On to the food. I had an order of Sirloin Steak medium rare with sides of fries and baked beans. My dad had the Sirloin as well, medium well though and my mum had the Char Grilled Chicken. Both my dad's and my steak turned out overcooked. Mine came almost medium well whereas my dad's one came well done. However, the meat was still a little juicy and sweet in my case, which was a relief in some ways. My mum's chicken was just average.
In my conversation with the cook/owner later on, he explained that the stall was only 3 days old and they weren't familiar with the equipment yet, hence the overcooking. He even offered to change our steaks for us and gave us a small discount on the food, which I felt was a nice gesture on his part.
Total damage was $25. Not cheap, but not expensive either. I'm sure once they get the hang of the equipment, the food will get better and the crowds will come. I'll definitely be back.
Chijmes was the atmospheric setting for our Valentine’s Day dinner.
Having undergone a stunning facelift as a national heritage site, Chijmes is now a trendy dining and leisure spot.
Having dined at its sister outlet – Sun with Moon Japanese Dining and Café, at Wheelock Place, I was pretty positive that the standard of the food served at Japanese Dining Sun @ Chijmes would pleased both our taste buds.
Without a doubt, we ordered Sashimi – Hamachi, or yellowtail, and Salmon Belly for the appetiser. I have to commend that it was one of the best sashimi I have ever tasted.
Not only was the chef generous in the thick slicing of the fish, each serving of sashimi was thoughtfully packed with ice at the bottom, to keep the fish chilled and fresh for consumption. The manager also recommended the Grilled Anchovies with Japanese Mayonnaise, which is pretty tasty when, go along with Hot Sake.
Speaking of which it was pretty interesting as the waitress brought out a basket of ceramic sake cups in different shapes and sizes, and ask us to pick one each.
For our starter, I opted for the Tuna Belly Sushi, or Otoro. Part of the Tuna’s lower belly which contains high fat content, Otoro is a highly prized fish in Japanese dining that is rich in taste and silky in texture.
And it is said the best time for consuming Otoro is during peak winter period (Nov – Feb), where the fish accumulates the most fats. For mains, we went with their signature Kamameshi (traditional steamed seasoned rice pot) of Beef and Foie Gras. They came served in traditional Japanese wooden pots.
Atop each pot stood an hourglass to indicate the end of one minute — the time required for the piping hot steam to permeate the rice casserole within. This method of cooking, apparantly dates back to the 19th century.
The beef slices was tender and marinated to taste, and the Foie Gras was sinfully excellent. Added to the fact that the rice is cooked just nicely as compared to my 1st experience at Sun with Moon, the Kamameshi was excellent this time round.
To round up the wonderful night, I went for piece of delightful Tofu Cheesecake that I have been carving for ever since I tried it, and she decided on the Kyodango & Warabi Mochi platter that comes with opaque yellow bean squares.
I am not a big fan of flour but I have to say that the mochi were delightfully smooth and soft, but however the sweetened thick soy sauce that goes over it is a bit of an acquired taste.
You can view the photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
After reading and hearing so much raving reviews about this dim sum place, I am surprised to realise that it is located near my workplace. Situated at ground level of Sunshine Plaza (Not to be mistaken for Sun Plaza at Sembawang MRT), this outlet is tiny compared to all other grand Chinese restaurant we are familiar with.
It is at the corner of this mall that you will find Victor’s Kitchen. Having numerous experiences as a dim sum chef, Victor and his wife moved to Singapore from Hong Kong.
Because of the limited tables available, make sure you come early if you do not wish to wait too long for a table during weekday’s lunch, or a weekend brunch. For the price I was paying, I was blown away by the sheer number of quality items they served.
For the Steamed Spare Ribs with Black Bean Sauce, I would prefer whole black beans be used to bring out more flavour instead of bits of it, but nevertheless, it was very tender and tasty still. The Tasty Queen Size Siew Mai was also incredible.
The skin is soft and the size is just right - any bigger and it would be too filling. The Char Siew Cheong Fun was simply delicious.
The rice roll is smooth, and texture so soft. To top it off, the Zha Leong (Doughstick wrap in rice roll) version was even better.
With one bite, you have yin of the smooth rice roll, and the yang of the crispy doughstick - the combination was simply unbelievable. Without a doubt, the one item that a diner never fails to order during dim sum would be that of Har Kau, or the prawn dumpling. At Victor’s Kitchen, the Victor’s King Prawn Dumpling is known as his specialty.
The huge prawns were juicy and the skin of the dumpling soft - yet does not fall off easily (unlike many I have experienced that falls off, the moment I picked them off from the steamer). The other laudable mention is the Chicken and Sausage in Glutinous Rice.
The rice is so fragrant and soft, and I simply find the ingredients irresistible – from the tender chicken chunks, to the Chinese sausages, to the juicy mushrooms and the tasty salted egg yolk. If you are a dim sum fan, you would know what I mean when I say that you would never get such a high quality dim sum for such a price.
The Deep Fried Spring Roll was simply awesome! Freshly fried and thus crispy and burning hot, every bite gives you a crunching sensation. Although I would prefer it to come with some sweet sauce rather than the vinegar dip that comes with the dish.
The Phoenix Porridge, or Century Egg and Chicken Porridge was also very yummy. Not starchy unlike most congee, the porridge was easy for the throat to slurp down. Indgredients were also generous with huge chunks of century egg and big pieces of chicken strips. However the only drawback is that you would have to finish it as soon as possible or it would start to turn watery.
Saving the best for the most deserved would be Milky Custard Bun. The dough is soft and fluffy and the egg custard was sweet and runny. What gave it the "Oomph" was the delightful salted egg yolk in the midst of it. A simply fab combination!
You can view the photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
A typical Teochew farewell can never do without a farewell dinner at an authentic Teochew restaurant. Made famous by the Dad, who has since passed away, the son has since took over the reins of the restaurant and vowed to continue the tradition of churning out bona fide Teochew dishes to loyal customers like my family, who have frequent this place for years.
Located at Mosque Street, Lee Kui Restaurant, or better known as Ah Hoi, or Crab in Teochew is famous for its Cold Crab. These meaty crabs are first steamed and then kept in the freezer giving the meat a firm texture.
Full of roe, a typical way to eat these crabs is to dip it into the sweet orange sauce. Next up was a controversial delicacy known to be served in special occasions - Shark Fin Soup, which has to be pre-ordered one day in advance.
The fins in themselves are said to be tasteless, but prized for its texture rather than flavour, noticed that these first grade fins are priced simply because it came as a whole fin and not in strands you get from lousy banquet dinner.
This was followed by my nephew’s favourite dish of the night – Assorted Deep Fried Dish – consisting of Seafood Cake, Spring Roll, Yam with Prawn Roll, and the best of all the Prawn Ball – flavoursome and fried to perfection, everyone on the table were commenting how good it was.
A personal favourite dish was up next, and at Lee Kui, you simply has to try the Oyster Egg – generous serving of oyster, the egg was wet on the inside and crisp on the outside – perfect complement for your plain rice.
The Vegetables were also surprisingly tasty that night – especially the refreshing Mock Abalones that really tasted like the real stuff. The Fish with Black Bean Sauce though a bit spicy, was very fresh.
In additional, the gravy went fantastically well with the porridge that we ordered. Sensing that we were still pretty hungry, Dad ordered a plate of Fried Noodles with Shrimps and Pork Slices. A pity that it was pretty oily, if not I was pretty sure everyone would had an additional serving of it.
This was because we were all saving the best for last, and what Teochew dinner would it be, if it did not end off with the authentic O-Nee, or Yam Paste with Pumpkin and Ginkgo Nuts - Sinfully Oily, Sinfully Good - a pity that it would be sometime before our family could gather again for such a sumptuous dinner.
You can view the photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
Located at ground floor of StarHub Building, off Orchard Road behind Centrepoint and Cuppage Terrace lies one among the five outlets of Waraku. The name "WARAKU" consists of two Chinese characters, "wa" meaning "harmony" and 'raku" meaning "enjoy".
What the establishment probably wish for is for their customer to relax, and enjoy the harmony of their dining experience. Opened in year 2000, the Waraku Orchard branch launched their “New Grand Menu” in the beginning of 2007.
Looking at the menu, I could not resist ordering the Kaminabe Wazen, despite it sounding a smidgen naughty. The set consists of Sliced Beef & Vegetables in Paper Hotpot, Salmon Sashimi, Vegetables and Prawn Tempura and a bowl of rice – and if you think it sounds good. It looked even better in real. The ingredients were plentiful and packed close to the brim of the paper hotpot, that it made cooking the beef in the soup broth difficult.
Both the salmon sashimi and tempura was good as well. Overall, a pretty satisfying experience considering that the price was reasonable and there are hundreds of choices to choose from the menu – excellent for some who cannot make up their minds.
You can view the photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
I decided to pay a visit to Marutama Ramen to try out its Holy Grail – the Aka Ramen. Describe as Marutama original ramen, the soup base is made of Seven Kinds of Nuts topped with Coriander.
As compared to their chicken soup base, by far Aka Ramen’s broth won effortlessly. The rich brew is flavoursome enough, even before sprinkling the Fried Garlic Chips and Sesame Seed. What’s more a wring of the Lemon gives an invigorating twist to the soup. Although the Meatballs are nothing to shout about, Marutama’s springy noodles are a reminder why I came back for in the first place. We also ordered the Yaki Char Siu, or Grilled Sliced Roast Pork as a side.
A slightly thicker version of those that came with the noodle, the pork slices were mouth-watering, especially when you sink your teeth and nibble at the meat along with the layer of fats that came with it.
Marutama Ramen also finally offers their version of Gyoza as well - and I must say it is pretty good.
You can view the photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
1=SGD 0.0587
Tao’s Restaurant was established by Mr Huang Yen Kun in June 2003. During a date with his girlfriend while still in college, they came across a famous French restaurant that was serving 7-course set meal. Mr Huang really wanted to dine in, but at $100 per set, the price was beyond what he could afford at that moment. This incident sparked off his idea of opening a restaurant that serves full 7-courses set meals at a price that will be affordable for everyone.
To further value-add the concept, the price for the set-meal is fixed. This means that customers can choose the dish of their preference for each category, without worrying about the price. In addition, there will be new dishes available for customers to choose from every 2 – 3 months.
Another special concept that Mr Huang added, was to present all dishes in specially designed “Tao Tzu” (pottery) plates (thus the name Tao’s). Tao Tzu plates in itself is a fine art, and most importantly, “Tao Tzu” has a high heat withstanding level which will help to preserve the temperature of the food in a very natural way. All these make up the unique restaurant that Tao’s currently is, and why it is well received by all its customers around Singapore
Tao’s serve a 6 course set lunch for $19.80 , and a 7 course set dinner for $28.80 . From the starters, salads, soups, to the Main entrees, desserts, until the beverages, you can pick your choice from the menu. Ordering was definitely easy for the 3 of us since under each category there isn’t that much of a option.
What we did was we look at each category and decided on the dish that we DO NOT want, for example there are four salads, we give a pass on huai san salad, and took the other 3 salad to share. That will make the whole process simpler and hassle-free isn’t it?
Bacon & Mushroom Gratin
To kick-start our meal at Tao’s, we had the Bacon & mushroom gratin. At first we were unsure about the dish, because it doesn’t look appetizing to us, but to our surprise this came out really well, coupled with the soft yet fluffy bread (below), both combine together give a unique taste.
Toasted Bread
Like mention above, the toasted bread is soft and fluffy, and it comes free-flow. Seriously we could just eat the bread, its so good it can be eaten on its own! No doubt the bread is free-flow, don’t gorge yourself silly, there’s more to come.
Fruit Salad
The first of the three salad, the fruit salad was pretty decent, i guess out of the three salad this will be my pick. If you like fruits then this is the one for you.
Ham & Spud salad
I have no idea what’s spud, i guess its refering to the potato since there is only ham, potato, and lettuce. I don’t really like the ham & spud salad so much as i find the potato to be pretty tasteless. However my dining companion is a potato-person, so she finish the whole thing without much problem
Farm Boy Splendor
The name’s definitely a eye-catcher, having no idea what the salad is, i guess most people will order this one. Thats what we did. But the farm boy splendor came out quite flat, first the presence of peanut has an overwhelming effect on the lettuce and the chicken. The taste of lettuce and chicken is covered by the peanut, but we like the sour-plum dressing.
Cream of mushroom
The cream of mushroom was quite similar to the one i had at Friends@Jelita. The mushroom soup has small bits of mushroom among the creamy soup. I find the soup to be quite balanced, not too creamy, not too diluted. Well, if you like your mushroom soup, this will be the one.
Shark-fin melon herbal soup
One thing is for sure, there is certainly no shark-fin inside, stop looking for it. Otherwise, i find the shark-fin melon herbal soup quite similar to my mother’s home-cooked soup, thumbs up.
Fish soup
The fish soup is unlike other soup you will find. First thing first, it is served not in a bowl, but in a teapot. Pouring out the soup onto a teacup, and you appreciate the soup just like you appreciate tea. Only thing is its not tea, its soup. The innovative is surely there, and the soup isn’t too fishy which makes it a good appetizer.
Baby lobster pasta in white wine sauce
My favourite lobster! Unfortunately we got to be realistic, they cant possibly serve a whole lobster in a meal like this, so the baby lobster. Even so, the baby lobster still stands out, baked with cheese, the meal no doubt little, but is good.
The pasta is not my cup of tea, i found it to be too creamy, and there isn’t really the taste of white wine sauce. Nevertheless, the spaghetti is chewy, and comes in a generous helping.
Tao’s oven roasted steak
We were debating what’s the yellow colour thing, at first we though it was sorbet, but after tasting, it is not. And we still haven’t figure out what is it. Anyway, Tao’s oven roasted steak is medium-rare, quite tender i will say, but then somehow that something is missing from the steak. Not excellent, but not too bad either.
Baked Atlantic flounder with cheese
The presentation of the baked atlantic flounder looks nice, the cheese after baked, looks golden on the fish. Having the first bite into the fish with a layer of cheese on top, the combination is good one, as the melted cheese and the soft taste of the fish goes down well together. However, we were discussing whether there is egg used, because we do experience a very strong egg taste. Mayb a tad too much eggs used.
Ice grape mallow tea
You know what? I think this is ribena, no kidding. Like ribena, the tea has grapes. hence the taste of ribena. But the ice grape mallow tea is really good, somewhat like tea, yet not like tea. If you don’t wan a strong tea smell, this one will do the job finely.
Ice rose apple tea
There is the scent of rose, and the taste of apple. Blend together and you got the ice rose apple tea
lavander tea
Actually we were eating our main course happily, before they served us our three teas. Then for about a few minutes or so, savouring the different tea we completely forgot about our main course. The lavander tea is all about lavander. N’uff said already.
home-made chocolate Mousse
Even after a filling meal, there’s always room for dessert, and this instance was no exception. Three small cubes of home-made chocolate mousse, pop one into your mouth, and it melts instantly
Creme Brulee
Compared it with the one i had at Al Dente Pronto, the creme brulee was cold while the other one is warm. Given the two, i say i will prefer the one at Al Dente Pronto, warm egg custard does taste better.
Sesame Pudding
I’m not really a big fan of sesame, but the Sesame pudding turns out to be all right.
Total bill for 3 set lunch comes up to $69.90 which i must say isn’t expensive considering the fact that we are having a six course meal. The food isn’t outstanding, but its not too bad also. Located at Paradiz centre, its convenient to reach the place. The staffs are friendly, the service and the waiting time in between the different courses is fast.
However, i believe Tao's must update their menu more regularly if they wants to attract me to go back. Simply the fact that three of us share and tried most of their dishes, except for their main entries. And oh ya, please go to Tao's for their set lunch rather than set dinner, because set dinner has only one course more, grilled mango and mushroom sorbet, but it cost $9 more. Nonetheless, for the sheer variety Tao's offers, it is certainly good value if you have not been there before.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” For the sheer variety Tao’s offer, its certainly good value “
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I remember frequently patronising the now defunct Dolphins Restaurant around the Macpherson area when I was still a secondary school student for its value for money set lunches and dinners. Fast forward a decade and the only hint of Dolphins existence is its flagship outlet along Genting Lane.
Oddly located on the 7th floor of an aging industrial building, it is so obscure that you would have to actually know that such a place existed. The interior is homely and reminiscent of steak houses of yesteryear (think Jack's place in the early 90s), made complete with nice booth seats in one corner.
Cream of Mushroom - The soup came with my set lunch and was rather starchy. Beats a watered down version I guess. And I'm pretty sure it came straight out of a can.
Tenderloin with Slipper Lobster - Done up medium rare, the tenderloin was decent but not outstanding. The meat tasted a little flat and could have done with some seasoning. On the up side, the slipper lobster was relatively big and sweet. But as with all lobsters, meat is always limited.
Pasta with Beef - Surprisingly, the pasta was al dente and the addition of capsicum gave this dish a very interesting twist - one that did not sit too well with me however. The beef cubes were plentiful though but lacking in taste and texture.
I guess $47 for 2 for lunch isn't exactly cheap or value for money, but I would say its still decent and definitely a nice quiet place to have a meal. That, plus the nostalgic factor and decent service, is enough for a revisit.
See all my pictures here
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I have a confession to make, i’ll have to admit New Harbour Cafe wasn’t my first choice for dinner. My initial preference for our gathering was at Tuckshop (also on the same stretch of road at Tanjong Pagar).
Well, the catastrophe occurs like this, i din make any reservation because i wasn’t sure whether my friends wanted to go to Tuckshop, so we just happily set off there. It was a long 15-20 min walk from Outram MRT, please be smart and take the Tanjong Pagar MRT instead. When we finally reach Tuckshop, the whole place was empty, right at 7pm. To our dismay, the waiteress told us the cafe is fully booked at 730pm and there was NO WAY she can make space for us. Ten of us.
Now its my turn to panic, since i was the organiser and i din have a back-up plan because i thought Tuckshop will be available. We walk around (not easy to bring a big group around looking for a dining place), and finally settled on New Harbour Cafe, simply because i have no other alternatives.
At any rate, you might be wondering whether you should continue reading through this entry since i already said New Harbour cafe was because there was no other selection, well you should, don’t write off the place, just yet.
New Harbour Cafe is located at Tanjong Pagar, a whole stretch of road that houses many pubs, & wedding bridal shops. A Cafe & Bar theme concept, New Harbour Cafe was rather empty when we got there, but after we got seated the other diners soon fill up the seats.
One of the minus point of the place was the dim lighting. Definitely not a good place for food bloggers to be, well unless you got superb cameras, which i do not have as you can see from the pictures : (
N.Z Sirloin Steak & Mash ($17.90)
My friend had the N.Z Sirloin Steak well done. Gosh, i was thinking can a well done steak even be eaten? To my suprise, the steak isn’t perfectly well done, there are still blood stains within.
Black Pepper Chicken Chop ($11.90)
Chicken chop with black pepper sauce, accompanied with sides of mushrooms and mashed potatos
Crackling Roast Pork ($14.90)
Roast Pork with crispy crackling served with daily vegetables and mashed potatos. Onion gravy topped with apple sauce. On first look, i though it looks like Roast pork (cos i didn’t see the menu), and to my astonish it really is. Now now, when did you see a cafe serve roast pork as a main before? Mayb i am not yet a experience diner around, but from what i can remember i didn’t see roast pork as main course in all my previous dining experience.
On first bite, the crackling roast pork was crispy, and the apple sauce was a refreshing change to the usual roast pork taste. The apple sauce provided little touches of tangy sweetness with each cut of roast pork. However, this is only good for people with a sweet tooth, or for sharing because the sweetness of the apple sauce does slightly overwhelm your palette. Nevertheless, it is a pleasant experience because the next time i will be able to say i got see Roast Pork as main course before!
Special Chinese New Year Pork Chop ($15.90)
We intially wanted to order Pork Chop with apple sauce, but the waitress highly recommend this instead. Personally i find the pork chop to be all right, but my friend commented that it was too tough.
Harbour Fish & Chips ($12.90)
New Harbour Cafe has a column under its menu titled black board & daily special. There is something special everyday, roast leg of lamb on Mon, Madras curry being on tue, and on wed we have oxtail stew, there is the Hainanese pork chop available on thu, and of course our harbour fish & chips on the friday that we patronise the place.
The crispy exterior was complemented with the soft and fresh interior of the fish, with a faint flavouring of spices. The chips in new harbour cafe was cut in huge wedges shape which i must compliment was quite good.
Grilled Dory Fish Fillet ($12.90)
We had two of this, and the result was rather pleasing. The Grilled dory fish fillet was fresh, together with a squeeze of the lemon, adds a freshing twist to the fish. The serving was generous as well, with a huge cut of fish fillet which two person can actually share.
Spaghetti Alfredo with ham & mushroom ($11.90)
The spaghetti was a nice change with ham & mushroom. Now here, not that my knowledge fails me again, but i don’t remember seeing ham use frequently together with spaghetti? Or am i wrong here? But the usage of ham and mushroom gives me the feeling of pizza rather than spaghetti.
Harbour 1/2 lb beef burger ($12.90)
One word for the burger, Humongous! The Harbour 1/2 lb beef burger was huge, large, enormous, and whatever word you can think of. The beef patty was definitely bigger than the one i had at Botak Jones. If you were to compare both beef burger, the one at Botak there is cheese added which gives the burger another flavouring, but harbour’s one allows the taste of the beef patty without any disturbance as there is no other extra ingredient.
The beef patty was made like all good beef patty, juicy and tender. And the serving of the burger certainly fills one up. With the harbour fries, its tough to finish up the meal.
Brownie with ice cream ($5.80)
As sweet notes to end off the meal, we had the brownie with ice cream. The brownie alone is $3.80 while an additional scope of ice cream makes it $5.80. We only ordered one dessert because most of us are too full after our main course. The brownie was soft and chocolate-ly.
The total bill (10 person) for 9 mains, 7 drinks and 1 desserts comes up to $158.30, which i must say is rather reasonable. The drinks add up quite a fair bit of damages to the bill, $28 for 7 drinks. Otherwise it will even be cheaper. The one positive thing that i’ll like to highlight will be New Harbour Cafe does not charge any GST & service charge. For a large group of us, no extra charges mean easier calculation of the bill. hahahah!
However, the negative aspects of the place will be they do not serve ice water. which leads to us ordering drinks. And like what i mentioned earlier, their cafe has poor lighting, not suitable for taking photos. Service wise not much, the staff there are all foreign workers.
We saw this while we were about to leave, Makansutra salutes them in recognition of their culinary standards & quality. So they can’t be that bad after all, so give them a visit if you are in the area. Even if you don’t like the food, damages will be reduced as their prices are all in the 10s range.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Nothing beats eating with your mates, nothing! “
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My parents had lunch at Boon Tong Kee, half a chicken at $13, and buy back a packet for me @ $3.80.
I'll say the chicken from Boon Tong Kee is quite good, but mayb not good until i will pay $13 for half a chicken. There are better one out there in other neighbour coffee shops really.
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Today marks the second time that I am doing a review on Astons Specialities, albeit a rather short one. The first review can be found here. This time however, the location is different. That's right, Astons has a new outlet in the Serangoon Gardens estate. Unlike the original outlet, the new outlet isn't a stand alone unit by itself. Instead, it is housed inside a coffeeshop just next to HSBC and Borsch Steak House. Not really visible from the main road if you ask me, unless you happen to be walking towards the Starbucks/Cafe Cartel area.
On to the food. I had an order of Sirloin Steak medium rare with sides of fries and baked beans. My dad had the Sirloin as well, medium well though and my mum had the Char Grilled Chicken. Both my dad's and my steak turned out overcooked. Mine came almost medium well whereas my dad's one came well done. However, the meat was still a little juicy and sweet in my case, which was a relief in some ways. My mum's chicken was just average.
In my conversation with the cook/owner later on, he explained that the stall was only 3 days old and they weren't familiar with the equipment yet, hence the overcooking. He even offered to change our steaks for us and gave us a small discount on the food, which I felt was a nice gesture on his part.
Total damage was $25. Not cheap, but not expensive either. I'm sure once they get the hang of the equipment, the food will get better and the crowds will come. I'll definitely be back.
See all my pictures here
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Chijmes was the atmospheric setting for our Valentine’s Day dinner.
Having undergone a stunning facelift as a national heritage site, Chijmes is now a trendy dining and leisure spot.
Having dined at its sister outlet – Sun with Moon Japanese Dining and Café, at Wheelock Place, I was pretty positive that the standard of the food served at Japanese Dining Sun @ Chijmes would pleased both our taste buds.
Without a doubt, we ordered Sashimi – Hamachi, or yellowtail, and Salmon Belly for the appetiser. I have to commend that it was one of the best sashimi I have ever tasted.
Not only was the chef generous in the thick slicing of the fish, each serving of sashimi was thoughtfully packed with ice at the bottom, to keep the fish chilled and fresh for consumption. The manager also recommended the Grilled Anchovies with Japanese Mayonnaise, which is pretty tasty when, go along with Hot Sake.
Speaking of which it was pretty interesting as the waitress brought out a basket of ceramic sake cups in different shapes and sizes, and ask us to pick one each.
For our starter, I opted for the Tuna Belly Sushi, or Otoro. Part of the Tuna’s lower belly which contains high fat content, Otoro is a highly prized fish in Japanese dining that is rich in taste and silky in texture.
And it is said the best time for consuming Otoro is during peak winter period (Nov – Feb), where the fish accumulates the most fats. For mains, we went with their signature Kamameshi (traditional steamed seasoned rice pot) of Beef and Foie Gras. They came served in traditional Japanese wooden pots.
Atop each pot stood an hourglass to indicate the end of one minute — the time required for the piping hot steam to permeate the rice casserole within. This method of cooking, apparantly dates back to the 19th century.
The beef slices was tender and marinated to taste, and the Foie Gras was sinfully excellent. Added to the fact that the rice is cooked just nicely as compared to my 1st experience at Sun with Moon, the Kamameshi was excellent this time round.
To round up the wonderful night, I went for piece of delightful Tofu Cheesecake that I have been carving for ever since I tried it, and she decided on the Kyodango & Warabi Mochi platter that comes with opaque yellow bean squares.
I am not a big fan of flour but I have to say that the mochi were delightfully smooth and soft, but however the sweetened thick soy sauce that goes over it is a bit of an acquired taste.
You can view the photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
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After reading and hearing so much raving reviews about this dim sum place, I am surprised to realise that it is located near my workplace. Situated at ground level of Sunshine Plaza (Not to be mistaken for Sun Plaza at Sembawang MRT), this outlet is tiny compared to all other grand Chinese restaurant we are familiar with.
It is at the corner of this mall that you will find Victor’s Kitchen. Having numerous experiences as a dim sum chef, Victor and his wife moved to Singapore from Hong Kong.
Because of the limited tables available, make sure you come early if you do not wish to wait too long for a table during weekday’s lunch, or a weekend brunch. For the price I was paying, I was blown away by the sheer number of quality items they served.
For the Steamed Spare Ribs with Black Bean Sauce, I would prefer whole black beans be used to bring out more flavour instead of bits of it, but nevertheless, it was very tender and tasty still. The Tasty Queen Size Siew Mai was also incredible.
The skin is soft and the size is just right - any bigger and it would be too filling. The Char Siew Cheong Fun was simply delicious.
The rice roll is smooth, and texture so soft. To top it off, the Zha Leong (Doughstick wrap in rice roll) version was even better.
With one bite, you have yin of the smooth rice roll, and the yang of the crispy doughstick - the combination was simply unbelievable. Without a doubt, the one item that a diner never fails to order during dim sum would be that of Har Kau, or the prawn dumpling. At Victor’s Kitchen, the Victor’s King Prawn Dumpling is known as his specialty.
The huge prawns were juicy and the skin of the dumpling soft - yet does not fall off easily (unlike many I have experienced that falls off, the moment I picked them off from the steamer). The other laudable mention is the Chicken and Sausage in Glutinous Rice.
The rice is so fragrant and soft, and I simply find the ingredients irresistible – from the tender chicken chunks, to the Chinese sausages, to the juicy mushrooms and the tasty salted egg yolk. If you are a dim sum fan, you would know what I mean when I say that you would never get such a high quality dim sum for such a price.
The Deep Fried Spring Roll was simply awesome! Freshly fried and thus crispy and burning hot, every bite gives you a crunching sensation. Although I would prefer it to come with some sweet sauce rather than the vinegar dip that comes with the dish.
The Phoenix Porridge, or Century Egg and Chicken Porridge was also very yummy. Not starchy unlike most congee, the porridge was easy for the throat to slurp down. Indgredients were also generous with huge chunks of century egg and big pieces of chicken strips. However the only drawback is that you would have to finish it as soon as possible or it would start to turn watery.
Saving the best for the most deserved would be Milky Custard Bun. The dough is soft and fluffy and the egg custard was sweet and runny. What gave it the "Oomph" was the delightful salted egg yolk in the midst of it. A simply fab combination!
You can view the photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
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A typical Teochew farewell can never do without a farewell dinner at an authentic Teochew restaurant. Made famous by the Dad, who has since passed away, the son has since took over the reins of the restaurant and vowed to continue the tradition of churning out bona fide Teochew dishes to loyal customers like my family, who have frequent this place for years.
Located at Mosque Street, Lee Kui Restaurant, or better known as Ah Hoi, or Crab in Teochew is famous for its Cold Crab. These meaty crabs are first steamed and then kept in the freezer giving the meat a firm texture.
Full of roe, a typical way to eat these crabs is to dip it into the sweet orange sauce. Next up was a controversial delicacy known to be served in special occasions - Shark Fin Soup, which has to be pre-ordered one day in advance.
The fins in themselves are said to be tasteless, but prized for its texture rather than flavour, noticed that these first grade fins are priced simply because it came as a whole fin and not in strands you get from lousy banquet dinner.
This was followed by my nephew’s favourite dish of the night – Assorted Deep Fried Dish – consisting of Seafood Cake, Spring Roll, Yam with Prawn Roll, and the best of all the Prawn Ball – flavoursome and fried to perfection, everyone on the table were commenting how good it was.
A personal favourite dish was up next, and at Lee Kui, you simply has to try the Oyster Egg – generous serving of oyster, the egg was wet on the inside and crisp on the outside – perfect complement for your plain rice.
The Vegetables were also surprisingly tasty that night – especially the refreshing Mock Abalones that really tasted like the real stuff. The Fish with Black Bean Sauce though a bit spicy, was very fresh.
In additional, the gravy went fantastically well with the porridge that we ordered. Sensing that we were still pretty hungry, Dad ordered a plate of Fried Noodles with Shrimps and Pork Slices. A pity that it was pretty oily, if not I was pretty sure everyone would had an additional serving of it.
This was because we were all saving the best for last, and what Teochew dinner would it be, if it did not end off with the authentic O-Nee, or Yam Paste with Pumpkin and Ginkgo Nuts - Sinfully Oily, Sinfully Good - a pity that it would be sometime before our family could gather again for such a sumptuous dinner.
You can view the photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
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Located at ground floor of StarHub Building, off Orchard Road behind Centrepoint and Cuppage Terrace lies one among the five outlets of Waraku. The name "WARAKU" consists of two Chinese characters, "wa" meaning "harmony" and 'raku" meaning "enjoy".
What the establishment probably wish for is for their customer to relax, and enjoy the harmony of their dining experience. Opened in year 2000, the Waraku Orchard branch launched their “New Grand Menu” in the beginning of 2007.
Looking at the menu, I could not resist ordering the Kaminabe Wazen, despite it sounding a smidgen naughty. The set consists of Sliced Beef & Vegetables in Paper Hotpot, Salmon Sashimi, Vegetables and Prawn Tempura and a bowl of rice – and if you think it sounds good. It looked even better in real. The ingredients were plentiful and packed close to the brim of the paper hotpot, that it made cooking the beef in the soup broth difficult.
Both the salmon sashimi and tempura was good as well. Overall, a pretty satisfying experience considering that the price was reasonable and there are hundreds of choices to choose from the menu – excellent for some who cannot make up their minds.
You can view the photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
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I decided to pay a visit to Marutama Ramen to try out its Holy Grail – the Aka Ramen. Describe as Marutama original ramen, the soup base is made of Seven Kinds of Nuts topped with Coriander.
As compared to their chicken soup base, by far Aka Ramen’s broth won effortlessly. The rich brew is flavoursome enough, even before sprinkling the Fried Garlic Chips and Sesame Seed. What’s more a wring of the Lemon gives an invigorating twist to the soup. Although the Meatballs are nothing to shout about, Marutama’s springy noodles are a reminder why I came back for in the first place. We also ordered the Yaki Char Siu, or Grilled Sliced Roast Pork as a side.
A slightly thicker version of those that came with the noodle, the pork slices were mouth-watering, especially when you sink your teeth and nibble at the meat along with the layer of fats that came with it.
Marutama Ramen also finally offers their version of Gyoza as well - and I must say it is pretty good.
You can view the photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
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