Monday, July 29, 2013

Quan Xiang Yuan (Jing Ji) Seafood Restaurant @ Jalan Besar



Although there is quite a number of Hokkien Chinese in Singapore, but most of the Chinese restaurants located here are Cantonese restaurants. Only a few traditional Hokkien restaurants continues to flourish today, and Quan Xiang Yuan is one of the few left.

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Started our Hokkien dinner with a platter of crispy prawn rolls mix and match with tangy pork liver slices. The pork over was tender and did not have any "internal organs" taste. The tangy sauce went well with the liver. Prawn Fritters (Har Chor) was crispy on the outside, and juicy in the inside.

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Like the big bowl of Fish Maw Soup. Chokeful of ingredients and can fill about 8 bowls.

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Simple Chinese spinach with minced garlic.

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Another of their star dish - Braised Pork with Lotus Buns. The pork was really tender and went well with the soft lotus buns.

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We also enjoyed the Yam Ring with minced prawns and chicken.

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A very old-school traditional Hokkien restaurant. Price is really reasonable (one of the cheapest) and the whole place is air-con. Reservations on weekends are a must.


Quan Xiang Yuan (Jing Ji) Seafood Restaurant
252 Jalan Besar

Friday, July 26, 2013

Waterfall Cafe @ Shangri-La Hotel


I think after 2 brunches at Waterfall Café, it's fair to say that they are one of the best place for weekend brunch. After the previous Sunday brunch buffet, we are back here on a Saturday afternoon for their ala carte brunch.

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Waterfall Café has a very inviting entrance, where fresh produces breads are laid out on the counters.

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Although it is called Waterfall Café, but the waterfall is actually not very visible from the restaurant. It is located just outside of it.

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But of course, diners here are treated to a different view, the swimming pool.

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Freshly baked bread are served, and the bread comes in 4 different varieties.

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A shot of the group dining room.

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A bottle of tap water is placed on each table.

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For starters, we had the Pan seared foie gras, apricot and almond chutney, cucumber and arugula, vanilla sherry dressing (S$26). Foie Gras was creamy and not too oily.

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Jerusalem artichoke velouté, poached cranberries, toasted hazelnut, black trumpet mushroom (S$14). The soup was served warm and had a very unique and delicious taste.

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This is one of my favourite salad - Organic quinoa salad, baby spinach, red cabbage and raisin with roasted lamb rump (S$25). I like the contrasting texture of the crunchy quinoa with the juicy cabbage and spinach salad. The dressing was good too.

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Roasted barramundi, pink peppercorn and Indian coriander gastrique, steam bok choy, pequillo peppers and grape (S$30) - Fish was very fresh.

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Grilled trout, steamed spring vegetable fricassée, lemon relish (S$25) - This grilled trout is a feast to the eyes and the mouth. Very colourful and full of contrasting flavours.

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We felt a little let down by this dessert. Wasn't as good as their mains and appetizers. Kiwi and strawberry feuillantine, pistachio chiboust cream and passion fruit coulis (S$10)

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But we very much enjoyed the Blueberry cobbler with grains of paradise and warm almond crumble with vanilla ice cream (S$14). Especially when mixing together the warm crumble together with the cold vanilla ice cream.


Waterfall Cafe
22 Orange Grove Road
Garden Wing,
Level One
Shangri-La Hotel


Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Club Street Social @ Gemmil Lane


A few months ago, we wanted to have brunch at Club Street Social. But there were a long queue outside and we decided to come back again. This time, the crowd is much lesser, and we manage to get a table immediately.

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The whole café / bistro is kind of what you will find in New York. A very relaxed informal place to find your drink and some brunch.

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Started off our brunch with a Salad - Watermelon, Tomato, Ricotta (S$14). The colours were very striking. Red and white. Watermelon was sweet and we enjoyed the tangy tomatoes and creamy cheese.

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Beef Broth + Porcini Ravioli (S$12). A bit too salty. Will skip this the next time.

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Scrambled Eggs, Fontina, Chives (S$12) with additional Pork Sausage (S$3). Thumbs up for the creamy scrambled eggs. The toasts and sausage were quite forgettable.

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Panini - Pan Seared Lobster, Avocado and Yuzu Mayo (S$28). If I were to return to Club Street Social, it will be for their lobster Panini. It was chokeful of sweet lobster chunks, and mixed with creamy avocado. The Yuzu mayo added some tangy flavour to this wonderful Panini sandwich. Thumbs up.

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Milkbar Salted Caramel S'more (S$8) - I think we ordered too much carbo bread items. We couldn't finish this in the end.

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Berries with Vanilla Mascarpone (S$9) - And we find this so so only.


Club Street Social
5 Gemmil Lane



Saturday, July 13, 2013

Canton Paradise @ 112 Katong


One of our favourite place for Dim Sum is at Taste Paradise. Most of the items are of good quality and taste. But one problem is that Dim Sum is only served during lunch time.

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Imagine our surprise when we found out that its sister restaurant Canton Paradise is now serving the same dim sum for dinner too. In fact, it's whole day "breakfast" dim sum.

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We were there for dinner, and ordered their double boiled soup which was of good value.

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Crispy roast pork with crackling skin.

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The chee cheong fun with fragrant chai por is the unique dim sum item here. It is very very delicious, much better than the normal prawn chee cheong fun. Try it.

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Pan fried carrot cake with lup cheong and dried hae-bee.

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Like their chicken claws too.

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Other than dim sum, we also ordered their fried Ee-Fu noodles. Nice wok hei.

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We find the stir fry long beans with minced pork quite ordinary.

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Another must order here is the "Liu Sha Bao", which is steamed white fluffy buns with piping hot salted egg yolk fillings.

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The usual suspects: Siew Mai

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and of course, Har Kow.


Canton Paradise
B1-15
112 Katong
112 East Coast Road


Wednesday, July 10, 2013

LaBrezza @ The St. Regis


Many hotels in Singapore live to pamper diners with brunch buffet, and St Regis is no different. The hotel has not 1, but 3 different brunches.

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We are here today for the Italian brunch at LaBrezza next to the pool. Everyone here looks so relaxed, even the statues!

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The buffet has not as many items as other brunch. But most of the stuffs here are of better quality. And this means that you get to eat every single item on the buffet table.

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Brunch with Free flow Prosecco D.O.C.G Adami (S$98++ per person)

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Everything here is just so colourful and fresh. A great start to the weekend.

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Sweet and juicy heirloom tomatoes

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Cold black truffle angel hair pasta, 24 months cured parma prosciutto with rockmelon, ham, cold egg rolls, crunch sweet prawns (deshelled)

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Besides the buffet dishes, there were unlimited ala-carte dishes which are made-to-order. We like the Eggs Napoli - Poached egg and tomato on grilled chiabatta bread with pesto and mozzarella

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One of the best carbonara we ever had, cooked with eggs and pancetta. Portions are kept small so you can try everything on their menu.

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Grilled Sea Bass with lemon and olive oil. The skin is O-So-Crispy. Delish!

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Beef Striploin - A bit chewy, but nevertheless still good.

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Grilled Australian Lamb Chops with lemon mint marinade and roasted potatoes. The potatoes were a joy to eat.

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Brunch comes with free flow fruit juice. (Apple and Pineapple juice)

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Chef's special risotto. Really excellent stuff. Small tasting portion, risotto cooked with quality crème and butter. Yummy

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Grilled cuttlefish - Not that wonderful

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Fresh sliced fruit with honey yogurt

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Selection of ice-cream and gelato

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Excellent Tiramisu with whipped mascarpone cheese, espresso, lady finger biscuits. We had 2 servings of this. Forget about the other dessert, and just order this.

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Pistachio cannoli with candied lemon

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It was one of the better brunch we had in Singapore. I really enjoyed the food here, plus the poolside atmosphere. Highly recommended.


LaBrezza
(Located next to swimming pool)
The St. Regis,
29 Tanglin Road