deep-fried lobster steak with watermelon

went with wife for 2pax dinner at tunglok signatures orchard parade this evening on 25.3.2017. ^^

tunglok has the mysterious practice that amex love dining 50% discounts for 2pax applies only to set menu during weekends & applies only to ala carte during weekdays. don’t make much sense to me, but whatever. we like the set menu anyway, and also the ala carte menu so just follow the rules la!

tunglok signature 6-course fine dining menu

good thing they do vary their set menu a bit.

better thing is that we like most of the variations.

deep-fried lobster steak with watermelon

for this evening, lobster steak became lobster ball. to me it’s the same, a good serving of lobster steak.

meat very fresh & tasty & the batter thin enough & crispy, very good. special sauce was ok, tangy & not so sweet. good.

I think though the previous lobster steak here was better.

tang jia braised sharksfin

the sharksfin very tasty as always.

no need to add vinegar as server advised.

tang jia braised sharksfin

don’t eat sharksfin that much, and when I do I don’t add vinegar anyway, just pepper.

we asked for coriander & added a bit of coriander.

tang jia braised sharksfin

there was a good serving of fins & the soup was very tasty & sweet.

star garoupa fillet

star garoupa 东星斑 supposed to be top quality fish.

this was good enough but oddly not sweet & tasty as we expected.

the green chilli steamed red garoupa  we had here for this same 6-course set on 2.10.2016 was far, far better than this.

star garoupa fillet

in fact the fish fillet felt a bit tough, like “lor kor”…which is odd…these days like never come across “lor kor” fish

pork replacement dish for wife

wife doesn’t take the lamb rack on the course menu, so they replaced with an excellent pork dish.

this maybe pork collar. it was done to perfection, very tender, didn’t feel oil or fatty at all, felt consistent like sous vide.

a really, really good pork dish la! ^^

pork replacement dish for wife

I can’t quite decide if I would prefer this to the lamb rack. both were so good la!

pan-fried rack of lamb with pepper sauce

this pepper lamb was also like perfection.

Chinese lamb usually quite poor, usually gamey & to musk the smell, they pile on sweet sauce, so quite yukky.

pan-fried rack of lamb with pepper sauce

this lamd was superb, very tender, no smell.

also at most zi char, I would never order a pepper steak dish. the pepper sauce always overpowering. here the pepper sauce quite perfect.

braised noodles with abalone mushrooms

the noodles was very tasty & just the right texture. the abalone was a thick slice. the mushroom was a very thick mushroom.

braised noodles with abalone mushrooms

overall an excellent dish!

avocado pulut hitam

dessert were good too.

first time I took the pulut hitam dessert here, with avocado. sounded really rich & heavy, so last time we both changed to the ice jelly.

this time I decided to stick with the pulut hitam.

avocado pulut hitam

very smooth, tasty, not too sweet & quite perfect la!^^

ice jelly with aloe vera

wife had the ice jelly with aloe vera. very good too!

I would say between the 2, I actually prefer the pulut hitam more. haha!

2pax 6-course dinner came to S$125 nett for 2pax after 50% amex love dining discounts. they charged 10% service on the non discounted price. I guess it is quite fair such good food at this price…

I would consider this fine dining & a sumptuous meal & NOT just scrumptious as it was very tasty & well presented & also the ingredients were quality ingredients including lobster, lamb, abalone etc. only “blemish” 败笔was the star garoupa.

c.h.e.f andy

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Tunglok Signatures @ Orchard Parad

Address :
Orchard Parade Hotel #02-18
1 Tanglin Road
Singapore 247905

Contact :
Tel : +65 6834 0660
Fax : +65 6834 0550

Opening Hours :

Lunch :11.30am – 3.00pm (Daily)
Dinner :6.00pm -10.30pm (Daily)

peking duck

went back with the family for early birthday dinner for wife at kai garden 嘉苑 on 8nov2016. ^^

my first time here was my own birthday treat by my RI buddies on 28.10.2016.

soon after the dinner wife & I went for a short holiday in seoul 10-13.11.2016. so I had not made a blog post until now.

roast pork

this time I ordered ala carte.

there wan an ongoing promotion – free whole peking for >S$300 spend before service & GST. not too difficult. prices here are expensive!

roast pork

I ordered the roast pork. it was good but no better than other good restaurants like tung lok.

char siew

char siew was very good too.

char siew

very tender, and tasty.

xo fried carrot cake

daughter liked the xo fried carrot cake.

peking duck

everyone was very impressed with the peking duck.

peking duck

crispy skin.

some crisp for peking duck

a nice crisp to accompany. couldn’t remember what it was. seems like it was not tofu.

different skin wrappers for peking duck

the different sauces were good. & of course they had different skin wrappers too.

different skin wrappers for peking duck

I still prefer the traditional sweet sauce. but the pepper sauce also very good.

pig stomach soup

everyone liked the pig stomach soup. I think we ordered 3, maybe 4 orders.

sweet & sour soup

sweet & sour soup

& couple of sweet & sour soup, which was standard fare.

wasabi prawns

wasabi prawns were good. large, plump, nicely deepfried prawns, and just a light wasabi mayo with good wasabi flavour.

pomegranate dumpling

the pomegranate dumpling was just average, and expensive. we had enough food actually so didn’t really need this order.

stirfriedkurobuta

the kurobuta dish was good, tender, tasty & came with great vegetable & mushroom sides.

braised garoupa

the braised garoupa fillet dish quite excellent.

braised garoupa

good helping of garoupa, a flavourful pot.

braised garoupa

on balance though, I thought the braised garoupa fillet dishes I had at tunglok were mostly better than this.

braised garoupa

still quite an enjoyable dish everyone liked. 🙂

curry crab

we had a curry crab dish. it was very good. I would order this again.

curry crab

crab was fresh & sweet. and the pot ingredients quite tasty – belly pork & all.

vegtable taupok dish

the vegetable was good too.

overall it was a very enjoyable dinner. everyone enjoyed the food, especially the peking duck.

I cannot recall now. I think dinner came to about S$450nett, thought the S$88 peking duck was free.

the last time during my birthday lunch the service was excellent. this time service was still professional, however the server was pushing us to order more & bigger dishes, which I felt was not necessary, like the pomegranate dumpling dish. I could do w/o the kurobuta also.

still overall we all enjoyed the food here.

c.h.e.f andy

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Kai Garden 嘉苑

claypot alsakan crab legs tanhoon – S$38

wanted a place nearby & decided to go ah yat at grandstand for dinner on 9.3.2017.

had a really good lunch with my OPS friends, 6pax, at ah yat seafood grandstand on 26.7.2016.

we like the seafood here, good price & mostly happy & satisfied. much the same this evening. ^^

garlic steamed razor clams 蒜蓉蒸竹蚌 S$18

we ordered the usual garlic steamed razor clams 蒜蓉蒸竹蚌, about S$8.90 each.

this is always good. today though, wife felt it was a bit tough ie oversteamed, which was true.

claypot alsakan crab legs tanhoon – S$38

we ordered the S$38 Alaskan crableg tanhoon claypot.

claypotalsakan crab legs tanhoon

tanhoon very tasty. lots of pepper & garlic.

claypot alsakan crab legs tanhoon

crab legs were fresh & sweet.

today though not as good as some other times.

gong bao frog legs 宫保田鸡 S$10.80

the frog legs were excellent this evening.

gong bao frog legs 宫保田鸡

the 2 bull frogs were really large, & meat so fresh, bouncy, succulent, to the extent that we were kidding – got injection or not?

quite a sad thing actually, that when food is too nice (like watermelon very sweet) we think something might have been done to it…

gong bao frog legs 宫保田鸡

this a really large helping for 2 frogs.

at any zi char it would be S$18.

gong bao frog legs 宫保田鸡

this was the best dish for this evening.

ah yat 2pax dinner bill

dinner for 2pax came to S$85. pretty good price for the food we had.

c.h.e.f andy

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Ah Yat Seafood @ Grandstand

Fresh prawn | Rojak flower | Thai basil | Pistachio | Burnt lemon 

was looking for a place to have valentine’s dinner with wife.

saw this summer house & the S$128pax 10-course collective farming menu on their website. menu looks great & the reviews were all good so i booked 2pax dinner on 14.2.2017.

however upon checking i realised that the 14feb price for the same dinner menu was S$300pax, so i cancelled that & rebooked 1.3.2017. ^^

we are both not particular about having this on the actually date. usually we do before.

so in any case i did my own valentine’s dinner for wife on 14.2.2017. & that’s not bad too! ^^

the summerhouse 

summerhouse is located in a nice 2-storey colonial building at 3 Parl Lane in seletar.

the summerhouse 

large dining area with high ceiling & tables were spaced quite far apart. there were 4 tables including ours occupied for the evening.

the summerhouse 

restaurant is helmed by chef florian ridder, formerly sous chef of the one-Michelin-starred Alma in Goodwood Park Hotel.

chef came to talk to the diners though for this evening he did not come over to our table.

10-course collective farming menu 

the menu looked fine so we awaited the experience. & it was great!

first item was prawn. this chef uses a lot of herbs & scents & edible flowers, and the overall experience was very pleasant & enjoyable.

i did not expect much from the prawn. it was competent. the bread was more distinctive.

Tri tip beef tartare | Passion fruit brown butter | Pickled chilli | Mint

the tri-tip beef tartare was a great dish. i am not sure it’s better than a traditional beef tartare dish which is also very sweet tasting & satisfying.

Tri tip beef tatare | Passion fruit brown butter | Pickled chilli | Mint

i guess it was very good too & different, and quite suited for this 10-course tasting.

Uni-soy sauce ice cream | Ikura | Toasted nori

the uni on uni soy sauce ice cream on a bed of ikura was a fabulous dish, a wonderful experience, something we did not expect. outstanding la!^^

Raspberry pickled beetroot | Barley | Black sesame | Fried shallots | Ricotta

the beetroot was quite a huge dish, even shared by 2pax.

Raspberry pickled beetroot | Barley | Black sesame | Fried shallots | Ricotta

i always like beetroot,don’t get to eat often. this one according to the lady server was sous vide overnight.

Raspberry pickled beetroot | Barley | Black sesame | Fried shallots | Ricotta

& it went really well with the ricotta cheese.

Eggplant | Mild goat cheese | Coriander oil | Tomato broth 

the eggplant was excellent too!

Eggplant | Mild goat cheese | Coriander oil | Tomato broth

& with all the flavourings, cheese, coriander, tomato broth.

Bacon | Parmesan | Chinese spinach | Sunflower seeds 

the buckwheat porridge was good too.

Bacon | Parmesan | Chinese spinach | Sunflower seeds

but really this was too large a serving. 1/3 or even 1/4 would be quite enough.

the parmesan & bacon provided a nice salty tasty, but less fascination for me c/w the uni dish, beetroot & also the eggplant dish.

Carrot pesto | Orange blossom hollandaise | Nasturtium

the grouper i guess must be sous vide also, great texture but somehow missing the sweet taste of a fish that is fresh & done well.

Carrot pesto | Orange blossom hollandaise | Nasturtium

not really much to pick at overall. it had the k & the texture & the foam & other condiments so should really taste great but was just ok.

Carrot pesto | Orange blossom hollandaise | Nasturtium

wife didn’t care for the dish. i guess it was ok for me.

Pickled pumpkin | Kranji mushroom | Earl grey jus | Grapes

the full blood mayura wagyu was really good!^^

amoong the best non japanese wagyu that i had la…

Pickled pumpkin | Kranji mushroom | Earl grey jus | Grapes 

very nicely done! nicely charred, properly medium rare, very flavourful.

Pickled pumpkin | Kranji mushroom | Earl grey jus | Grapes 

& it was a large serving – 4 slices say 120g or more even…i will come back just for the beef. i think it mige on the set lunch menu??

Guava yoghurt sorbet | Lychee-coconut mousse | Raspberry puree | Rose meringue

flower – this dessert did not leave much impression.

Guava yoghurt sorbet | Lychee-coconut mousse | Raspberry puree | Rose meringue 

looked nice, different texture & temperature, but no much impression.

Rye ice-cream | Honey | Milk | Plum

sourdough – this one i liked.

Rye ice-cream | Honey | Milk | Plum

had a great combination of flavours.

overall dinner was really a very enjoyable, different experience of taste & flavours. not the more traditional degustation at cornerhouse, & reminiscent of the best of jaan..

it was also not the same as labrinth which was very fusion whereas here that summerhouse the important thing for me was that the dishes tasted really good – all of them in fact…

the service by the lady server was very good. she explained well & was quite knowledgeable. the other lady server was also quite knowledgeable. the male server a bit distance, not so friendly towards us.

c.h.e.f andy

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

kurobuta platter – S$25

after a truly memorable time together during our recent hong kong eat & hike 20-24feb2017,we were chatting about going japan or korea.

so we gathered to enjoy some yakiniku 烧肉 – japan style korean bbq at my favourite aburiya on 28.2.2017. ^^

hokkaido wagyu platter – S$40

i ordered the usual kurobuta & hokkaido wagyu platter, my wife & my favourite. 🙂

kurobuta platter – S$25 

my friends all liked them too.

yakiniku desu 

i like all the cuts for the hokkaido wagyu & also kurobuta platter.

among them, the loin cut from the second plate of wagyu platter (we ordered another plate) was the best.

they meat cuts are not always consistent, but i found the platter as the most consistently good cuts.

yakiniku desu

it was quite fun too, chatting & bbq-ing the meats, that’s why my wife & family like to come here.

yakiniku desu 

of course in the cold seasons in japan & korea, the experience & the warmth of the bbq even better.

here the hearth is smokeless, there is an internal extraction fan system & also smokeless charcoal.

kimchi chigae 킴치치개 

i ordered the kimchi chigae 킴치치개 .

kimchi chigae 킴치치개

this evening it was very good, at times it could be a tad salty…they really should be more consistent la..

bibimbab 비빔밥 

and the bibimbab this evening was excellent.

i don’t eat this much here as wife likes bibimen so we always order bibimen for 2 of us, which i like too.

ㅑ키니쿠 & bibimbab 비빔밥

this evening the bibimbab was especially tasty & flavourful. ^^

bibimbab 비빔밥 

very shiok!

MSW 猫山王 

my friend bought MSW 猫山王  and D13. today he managed to get MSW 猫山王 from his favourite stall sin kian choon for S$15/kg, i think about 3kg.

so we had them after dinner.

D13

and D13 at S$8/kg, about 5kg or more.

really shiok la…finally some good durians…did not eat durians for a while…december durians were very ex & poor in quality….i found out that usually price is inversely proportional to quality of MSW 猫山王 & durians in general…only when it is abundant & price is low can you be assured of good quality durians.

this was really enjoyable.

c.h.e.f amdy

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

whole lobster tagliolini – S$51

i just returned singapore from a very enjoyable hong kong eat & hike trip with my OPS primary school mates on 24.2.2017.

my close dental surgeon friend had earlier arranged to have dinner at la brezza this evening on 26.2.2017. he insisted on buying dinner. ^^

i just had a superb early birthday dinner for my OPS friend here on 7.2.2017. i enjoyd the dishes that evening so i ordered the same dishes for my friend to try.

bread – focaccia & baguette

we had the focaccia & baguette with the very good extra virgin olive oil & especially the very flavourful balsamic.

whole lobster tagliolini – S$51

the lobster tagliolini came, good as before.

fresh, sweet, bouncy lobster & nice pasta. the pasta was good.

my own lobster angel hair pasta 10.5.2014

wife’s excellent pink sauce crayfish pasta 13.7.2014

but it’s something both my wife & i can make as well, wife & children said better actually. 🙂

duck ragout pasta

duck ragout pasta – S$35

i was quite enamoured with the duck ragout the last time. a very good pasta & it came with a panfried foie gras.

my own duck ragout fettuccine on 12.2.2017

so much so i was inspired to make my own duck ragout for the first time. & mine turned out very good indeed. 

duck ragout pasta on 7.2.2017 – with duck rillete shredded duck meat in ragout sauce

i commented to the lady server that the one i had recently had the duck rillete form of ragout whereas this one had diced meat pieces? this server though was not so good like the last & could not give a satisfactory explanation.

300g angus ribeye medium rare – S$42

the tagliata is always good. really well done & a very good helping good enough for both to share, and the mesclun salad & grilled peppers were al excellent too.

the bill for 2pax after amex 50% lovedining discount for 2pax was S$87. great for this food & ambience.

c.h.e.f andy

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

及第粥pig innards congee @ sai kee congee 西記粥店 

one friend has the habit of taking late supper.

this evening, 2 friends decided to first go lan kwai fong to paint the town red. ^^

another friend & i decided to stay back & drink kungfu tea 功夫茶 & chit chat & laze around at out hotel room.

anyhow when the 2 came back, 11pm+, we all decided to accompany this friend out for his supper fulfilment.

there was this sai kee congee 西記粥店 on prince edward road west, just round the corner from our metropark hotel. so we walked in & gave it a try. ^^

the 及第粥pig innards congee was good enough, not as tasty as-

1. mui kee congee 妹記生滾粥品 OR
2. the really shiok 振记粥面店, cheung chau market stall

咸蛋蒸肉饼steamed minced pork @ sai kee congee 西記粥店 

we also tried the 咸蛋蒸肉饼steamed minced pork @ sai kee congee 西記粥店.

this was way too ordinary…like they say – bak chiu kam kam (close my eyes) i can do better anytime..not literally la..haha!

there is nothing to compare with the excellent dish at minsheng daipaidong 民声冰室.

poached kailan @ sai kee congee 西記粥店 

poached kailan was kind of standard…nice vegetable, not the best of preparation.

wanton noodles soup @ sai kee congee 西記粥店

the friend who ordered the wanton noodles soup said it;s tasteless.

well i guess this the kind of place i won’t really come specially, but if it is near midnight & a few steps from the hotel, it is a doable option (only option?) la…

c.h.e.f andy

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sai Kee Congee 西記粥店

Address

太子太子道西113號地下

G/F, 113 Prince Edward Road West

Transportation

(太子站 C2 出口, 步行約4分鐘)

MTR Prince Edward MTR Station Exit C2

Contact

2380 9630