lunch

went with HC & his wife, WM & M for 5pax lunch @ dian xiao er waterway point on 12.6.2018. ^^

dianxiaoer @ waterway point

first time i come to waterway point mall. dianxiaoer quite good ambience, apparently quite full during weekends??

S$32.80 lunch set for 2pax

they have a week day set lunch promotion S$32.80 that looked quite good. 🙂

we ordered 2 sets for 5pax, so 6 dishes = 3 dishes per set. you can add a soup of the day for S$4.80, normally like S$6.80. so we ordered 3. then 2 other normal price soup off the menu.

it included also free tea. here the service staff of the restaurant managed badly. 3 friends arrived earlier & asked about the promo lunch set but did not notice the free tea and ordered 3 tea. when we ordered the 2 sets, the waiter said he would cancel the 2 teas since we were entitled to 4 free tea, but his senior, a lady said we already ordered 3 tea so we had to pay for that.

anyhow the restaurant realised it’s not the right thing to do, and when we paid the bills they only charged 1 tea. that is the right service philosopy & service recovery..

braised duck 十全鸭

the sets were pretty ok. quite good food.

all my friends (me included) liked the braised duck 十全鸭.

not xin cuisine standard or silk @ sicc standard but very good nonetheless. very tasty & enjoyable dish.

mushroom brocoli & kailan

also ordered mushrooms with brocoli. it was a good size serving & mushrooms & brocoli all good.

baby kailan

baby kailan also good & done well, slightly sour with lemon juice i think, quite ok.

braised belly pork

for the second set we ordered the braised belly pork. good too. flavourful & quite tender though the lean meat got some tougher parts.

tofu with minced pork

the tofu with minced pork etc a robust dish, like the ordinary zi char..

kailan stems, deepfried shredded kailan & pork floss

the kailan dish unique & quite fine dish, with slice kailan stems, deepfried shredded kailand leaves (slight bitter) balanced by pork floss (sweet). interesting dish, overall quite nice.

chinese chawanmushi

there is also a steamed egg dish for each set. basically like a chawanmushi, and quite good too.

pork rib soup

pork rib lietong quite ok, nothing special for S$4.80 but i guess even at food court that would be the price, so cannot “hiam” (complain)…

winter melon soup

HC & wife ordered a cordycep soup & winter melon soup…

the lunch was pretty good. HC paid for lunch i think around S$100+ for 5pax pretty ok.

don’t mind the set at all. duck was good & the other dishes too. will bring my sis to try this next time.

c.h.e.f andy

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lobster noodles

went with wife for 2pax dinner at peach garden @ metropolis on 9.6.2018. ^^

free lobster noodles for each diner promo 

peach garden has an ongoing free lobster noodles for each diner promotion. no minimum spend.

char siew & siew yoke 

the menu was kind of limited though, nothing much to order.

char siew & siew yoke 

service staff was good, polite & helpful, advised us to order the char siew & siew yoke.

at S$12 per serving i thought i was on the more expensive side.

but the roast pork was very good, excellent. very crispy skin & no fat at all, all rendered out in the roasting process…very nice if ex at S$12.

char siew also very good, so we were happy with the order.

we wanted to order the saliva chicken, but they didn’t have this evening.

so we ordered a sea perch mustard leaves 梅菜鲈鱼, very small serving for S$18, nice though.

& 2 fried tofu at S$7 each minimum order 2.

lobster noodles

good thing was the lobster was good, very tasty & also a good serving with 3 large pieces (basically 1/2 lobster).

quite a good dinner. they of course charged a lot for other things, like S$1.20pax for water, S$0.80pax for tissue & S$4 for peanuts. so bill still came to S$75nett for 2pax.

anyway we were satisfied with the food.

c.h.e.f adny

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Peach Garden @ Metropolis

4 snacks1 – musk melon

wife bought an exquisite 8-course degustation dinner for our belated anniversary celebrations on 6.6.2018. ^^

since Jaan was removed from amex love dining (Jaan was our favourite both under andre & subsequently julian royers), there were not so many places we go for degustation & omakase.

the best for me is hachi – both the omakase lunch & dinner. hachi omakase lunch much greater value at 1/2 the price of dinner.

the other place is cornerhouse, which we go few & far between for occasions like anniversary dinner 1.6.2016.^^ that was one of the best with very good quality of ingredients like lobster & tajiyama wagyu..

last year we had a late valentine dinner at summerhouse on 1.3.2017… chef florian ridder was formerly sous chef here at one-Michelin-starred alma. the S$128 10-course menu was good but not quite in the same league as what we had this evening…

4 snacks2 – potato, salted egg yoke

alma’s dishes were equally fine & more inventive c/w cornerhouse, and every snack & course dishes were delicious, wonderful combination of flavours.

4 snack3 -foie gras toast

4 snack3 -foie gras toast

4 snack3 -foie gras toast

4 snack4 – brie & truffle

we enjoyed all the 4 wonderful snacks…all delicious & a great start to the evening…

alma degustation menu

alma degustation menu

we took the 8-course & wife had the 5 wine pairing. 🙂

alma @ goodwood park

nice setting, they have rooms for bigger groups, most interesting was the whisky cellar room. 🙂

freshly baked bread

freshly baked bread

the bread was very good too. they offered more. we had to keep our stomach for the finer things…. 🙂

#1 very sweet jap tomatoes with umeshu granitas

tomatoes were very sweet!

#1 very sweet jap tomatoes with umeshu granitas

#1 very sweet jap tomatoes with umeshu granitas

the umeshu ice was great too..

#2 chutoro, daikon, kimchi

chutoro very good, very sweet, nicely presented & excellent but i guess no better than a regular sashimi serving.

#3 uni on hamachi

#3 uni on hamachi

#3 uni on hamachi

the uni & hamachi obviously very good, very sweet & perfect texture..

#4 oyster, lobster, caviar chawanmushi

& they had a chawanmushi dish (fusion)..the chopped lobster & oyster & caviar added luxury to the great tasting dish. 🙂

#5 morel & cheese ravioli

morel & cheese ravioli also first class!

#6 yorkshire pork jowl & celeriac tea

#6 yorkshire pork jowl & celeriac tea

the celeriac tea was very good.

#6 yorkshire pork jowl

the yorkshire pork jowl itself seemed ordinary after so many tasty dishes.

#7 miyazaki A5 wagyu

the miyazaki A5 wagyu of course the best! (though hachi omakase lunch serving of 3 better quality ohmi wagyu was unmatchable)

#7 miyazaki A5 wagyu2

#7 miyazaki A5 wagyu

steak was properly charred & nicely medium falourarare, moist & sweet.

#8 rhubarb dessert

the dessert was served with a chocolate drawn anniversary greeting. 🙂

petite four

alas, all good thing comes to an end.

the petite four were very good too!

prawn & scallop

wife was invited to a wine dinner @ morton’s the steakhouse on 2JUn2018^^..

i was the spouse invite – gladly la!

wine dinner at morton of chicago 

5 wine pairing 

the wine were the best i had in all the wine dinners i had..5 wines including 1985,1995,2009,2012 etc incredible wines..

prawn & scallop 

food was good for me not fitting wife’s palette

prawn & scallop starter was great. i agree it was not special for this kind of restaurant.

still it was more than competent. both scallops & prawns were fresh & plump & tasty with the bacon wrap..& the salsa was good too. 🙂

smoked bacon 

smoked bacon had wonderful texture & smoked flavours but very salty..

(thinking how i can create this texture of belly pork)

so this was bacon which were sold salted, no doubt the restaurant smoked their own….

it could be a main course served with rice or other carbs in its own rights, then it might be ok…as a second appetizer (kind of large serving) or a primi (first main course) it was too salty taken on its own..

fillet & foie gras

fillet & foie gras 

unfortunately the fillet was well below par. it felt really odd to be saying that of a steak restaurant.

firstly they got the the menu wrong. the menu said ny strip so everyone ordered medium rare ..instead we had fillet (which wife & i & many on the table would have ordered rare)..

steak was well charred but hard on the outside & dry on the inside! there was some sweetness but tenderloin are less flavourful thna marbled meats & need to be tender & moist, so can only say the steak was well below par,…

foie gras was not well seared & camaralised. this a different preparation, texture like steamed, so also not what wife likes.

in that sense the management & service was at fault as if the restaurant had changed from ny strip to fillet, well managed & well trained staff ought to have inform the guests.

cake

cake 

dessert was maybe the best even for wife & i who are not dessert persons..

it was much sweeter than what i would usually take, but it was super moist & tasty so the sweetness came with wonderful flavours that i took double than what I usually would.

c.h.e.f andy

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3 lobsters in pumpkin style

did an e6pax birthday dinner for brother YS & sister YH at ah yat grandstand on 4.6.2018. ^^

YS & WL are travelling, and wife & i also travelling so we had the birthday dinner earlier. 🙂

ah yat have the S$29.80 boston lobster & 50% off live seafood promotion so it was a good choice.

lala with ginger & scallions 姜葱哈利

lala with ginger & scallions 姜葱哈利

lala was good. very well done, tasty & we all liked the tasty scallions too. 🙂

it was expensive despite the 50% off & cost more than 3 bull frogs, quite ridiculous actually but anyway we wanted a good spread of food, so it was a good choice.

gongbao frog legs 宫保田鸡

the frogs were S$4.50 each. so just S$13.50 for 3 bull frogs.

it was excellent gongbao style. we told them “very little sweet” and it was not sweet. 🙂

gongbao frog legs 宫保田鸡

totally fresh live bullfrogs, tender & bouncy & a great flavour gongbao style with cashew nuts.. 🙂

3 lobsters in pumpkin style

we ordered 3 lobsters, S$29.80 each 500g boston lobsters…

lobster was very good, fresh & tasty. the pumpkin sauce was very good with crab & very nice on its own. but we all felt it was overwhelming the natural flavours of the lobster, and teh superior stock style 上汤焗(which we usually took) was better.

so a bit wasted. will stick to superior stock 上汤焗in future..

hk steamed tiger garoupa

hk steamed tiger garoupa

the hk steamed tiger garoupa was excellent as always…fish was tender, sweet & fresh, full marks for the cooking. 🙂

pepper alaskan crab tanhoon

we ordered the pepper alaskan crab tanhoon S$38.

there were quite many pieces of alskan crab legs, & the tanhoon was very tasty with good “pang” pepper flavour..

kailan

we ordered kailan. it was good but expensive.

horfun

and a horfun, good also thugh not enough wok hae, but also very ex.

guilinggao

the restaurant gave us complimentary guilinggao, special for my brother YS because he always have big group dining here.

pepper alaskan crab tanhoon

and we also had 10% discounts.

dinner came to S$280 for 6pax, pretty good for the quality of food we had.

because it was YS & YH birthday, they also gave us longevity buns 寿桃

c.h.e.f andy

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Ah Yat Seafood @ Grandstand

bakchormee

went for my weekly jogging with my RI jogging buddy CH this morning on 31.5.2018. ^^

decided to drop by sheng shiong clementi ave 2 for some grocery on the way back.

tai hong bakchormee

stopped by at tai hong fish ball bakchormee at coffeeshop at blk 352.

bakchormee

i tried this place once i think, & it was not bad…so i decided to have another go.

ordered the fishball bakchormee S$3.50.

it had lots of ingredients – 2 fishball, 2 meatballs, lots of liver & minced pork, & also fish cake, and mushroom sauce..the chilli was pretty good too..& noddles were qq…

so it’s not really tai hwa standard by any stretch…but ok for me..don’t mind it if i am around here…

c.h.e.f andy

4pax 盐水鸭 lunch

went with sis, SL (my brother YS’s old buddy from primary school) & her son LS to have 4pax 盐水鸭 lunch at benson duck this morning on 30May2018. ^^

(SL & her son LS came my place for 4pax dinner recently on 10.3.2018). 🙂

i ordered 1 duck (S$32), tapao 1/2 & served 1/2 for 4pax.

also ordered S$8 fish maw pig innard soup, and they served us a S$5 large plate 金龙菜, a malaysian chives now quite popular that is tender like yellow chives…

great lunch, S$30.50 for 4pax.

after lunch i sent LS to his office at toa payoh lor 1 near bradell mrt, then we went to 光明山 to pay respect as today is my mother’s death anniversary 忌日..

half 盐水鸭

half 盐水鸭

i brought the half 盐水鸭 back for wife. she & son enjoyed it though not as much as i do.

c.h.e.f andy

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Benson Salted Duck 盐水鸭

indian rojak 

my OPS bro WM & wife J messaged to have indian rojak at ayer rajah food centre on 27.5.2018. ^^

they just finished church. they came by to pick me up.

habib’s rojak – ayer rajah FC stall 68 

abdhus salam rojak – ayer rajah FC stall 73 was cosed so we made do with habib’s rojak – ayer rajah FC stall 68 .

i came here 3 times, twice with RI bros & once with WM, and we all concluded stall 73 was better… 🙂

indian rojak

J said the prawn fritters was not good! otherwise quite ok.

so this not the best she had tried & maybe not so meeting expectations.

i did not take rojak, just had my usual kopi c gosong tilok.

c.h.e.f andy

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Habib’s Rojak

Address:

Ayer Rajah Fooc Centre

503A W Coast Dr, Singapore 121503

chinatown braised duck

my OPS bro WM dropped by at teban gardens today but i left already.

he went to visit an aunty who had a fall & now warded at st lukes hospital.

after he dropped by my place & we went to commonwealth crescent food centre.

WM ordered his favourite hong kee porridge.

i had my jian kan wanton noodles.

chinatown braised duck

WM was watching the queue, and he went to buy the duck. he said lower quarter S$18, really overly expensive, but it was a huge portion could pass as 1/2 duck.

we had this here on 5.9.2016.

duck was just as good, very tender & tasty, good lor flavours & not salty. a really very good duck, as good as or almost the standard of hup seng braised duck in sin ming. 

c.h.e.f andy

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Hong Kee Porridge

#02-89

牛车水阿婆卤鸭

#02-95

31 Commonwealth Crescent S149644, Commonwealth Crescent Market & Food Centre

盐水鸭 whole duck S$32

surprise package today. 9 RI bros turned up for 盐水鸭 at benson duck toa payoh lor 1.

just yesterday i was buying some msw to share after the lunch today & checking on the numbers. it was like 4 or 5.

as it turned out, this one of the highest attendance out our birthday get togethers, which mostly had full attendance, all 14 bros.

benson duck

this my best 盐水鸭 in singapore, not in a restaurant. well the only one i know. lol!

whole duck is S$32. it is tender, sweet, tasty, not salty, quite perfect actually.

we were seated on adjoining tables, seating 4 & 5, so we ordered a portion for each table.

pig innards soup 猪杂汤 S$8

the fish maw pig innard soup was very good, very tasty soup & the liver, pork balls & sliced pork were good too.

braised pork & chicken liver, gizzards S$8

duck liver was ok. the braised belly pork & gizzard not so good.

the 金龙菜 here just S$3. c/w S$15 for the same thing we had few days back at sum kee on 18.5.2018! 

lunch came to S$106 for 9pax about S$12 each…nice lunch. food was wiped clean…

msw durians

after lunch, we went to toa payoh lor 8 & took four seasons chendol.

after that we shared the durians. i bought 2 msw about S$40 expecting 4-5pax lol!

anyway it was enough, no need to eat too much.

盐水鸭

i do a good 盐水鸭 myself, but not for a long time, maybe should try it again.

c.h.e.f andy

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Benson Salted Duck 盐水鸭