18 Feb 2012 - Zhou's Kitchen high tea buffet

Wanted to sleep in this rainy day, but got nagged at to go out. For "fresh air".

Went to Zhou's Kitchen at Novena Square2 for their high tea buffet, $16.80++ per person. Had a refillable pot of pu'er tea for $2.40++ too.

Fried crab rolls - crispy, but insides tasted more doughy than crabby. Perhaps crab meat is too delicate to be done this way, reminded him of the "fiery balls of crab" at Joe's Crab Shack during his stay in Dallas in 2011.


Fried dory fish fillet done Thai-style. Many people like tender dory fish, and it was made better with the sweet and slightly spicy sauce.


Prawn salad has always been his favourite. Succulent prawns, sweet melons and nata de coco topped with mayonnaise, just can't go wrong with this.


Pan-fried turnip cake with Chinese sausage. This did not taste overtly oily, he liked that the sausage bits lent contrast to the soft cake. She felt that dried shrimps were not sufficiently used though.


Cold dish of Drunken Chicken in spicy garlic sauce. Notice that this was cut out like ham? No bones.


Century egg porridge for her. He had a few spoonfuls, and thought that the broth tasted a little out. She found nothing wrong though.


Had difficulty removing the shrimp dumpling to his mouth, the skin was just too sticky. Crystal Jade did a better rendition of this.


Braised "phoenix" claws...


Steamed pork dumplings in spicy sauce. Suspected that this was "guo tie" that was steamed instead of being pan-fried.


Pork ribs with black bean paste, with no black beans to be found. Meat was succulent.


These were the weirdest siew mai they had ever tasted. The orange topping of fish roe seem to have all burst, the dumpling was overwhelmed with mushroom flavour, and the overall texture was a bit dry and hard. The first time he did not enjoy siew mai.


Sour and spicy soup to regain some appetite.


Pan-fried dumpling (guo tie), with pork floss and salad dressing. Warm, crispy and tasty. Nice.
\

Finally, desserts to signal the end of the show. Herbal jelly that she complained about not being bitter enough.


He liked the sweet and cool almond jelly with mixed fruit.

11 Feb 2012 - Dim Sum at Crystal Jade and The Eastern Restaurant

Crystal Jade
Had a pot of Pu'er, one pineapple bun, a bowl of porridge, 2 baskets of siew mai, 1 basket of shrimp dumpling, a serving of braised "phoenix claws" (chicken feet) and another basket of custard buns. ~$40.

Waiting for food...


Siew Mai was puny as compared to the ones he had last week at Straits Cafe. However, judging by the ingredients and texture, these were of higher grade. At least 2 parts of crunchy prawns and small pieces of meat inside, as opposed to being wholly minced meat.


The close up.


Shrimp dumplings, nice, but perhaps the Siew Mai was more worth it.


Pineapple bun with a slice of butter. ~$2. Love how the sweet and brittle crust contrasted, yet complemented, the soft bread beneath.


Bowl of porridge, with toppings such as cuttlefish, peanuts and... can't remember. ~$7.


Golden delights, custard buns. Imagined to be overflowing with the custard of salted egg yolks.


Looked like the flow was well contained, but these were still a delicious way to end the meal.


Walked around and had some damage done to his pockets before they decided to go for another meal. Genki Sushi had quite the queue, looked much too long to wait for sashimi. So they went across to CentrePoint for more dim sum.

At The Eastern Restaurant, had Pu'er again, Yangzhou-style fried rice, 1 serving of braised beef brisket, 2 servings of dumplings in chilli oil and 1 basket of soup dumplings. ~$50

Various menus...


Dumplings in chilli oil, 红油抄手. Chilli oil for some fire and vinegar base for that piquant taste, kept him wanting for more. A little pricey at $6 for 5 though.


Soup dumplings, bursting with soup inside.


Yangzhou-style fried rice. Seemed quite healthy, not too oily or salty. Had him thinking that it was a bit bland. ~$10


Chunks of braised beef brisket in a generous serving (probably for 4persons), $~12. Meat was fork tender and tasty, and the dish also had slices of bamboo shoots and mushrooms, equally delicious.

03 Dec 2011 - Red Pot and Ma Maison

Got out of the house on this day to retrieve a key for a friend. Apparently, the friend's obnoxious colleague had withheld the key on purpose. Had a long wait before they finally could go off for a meal.

Enticed by the advertisement of rice noodle set with 15 sides, they walked into Hong Guo at Bugis Junction. Ordered some drinks to quench their thirsts first.

Salt rimmed mango margarita, $3.80++. Mock-tail version. The waitress initially got him a glass of some lychee drink, and left him trying to figure out which part of it was mango.


Mango freeze, $3.80++.


Shanghai dumplings, $5.80++. This dish had fillings of mince meat and chestnut.


The mains, $8.50. Condiments such as scallions, dried baby shrimp, were also included in the count. Anyway, this had prawns, 2 or 3 pieces of squid, ham, cuttle fish shreds, button and shiitake mushrooms, quail eggs, can't remember them all. Meat and eggs were to go into the big bowl of hot soup first, followed by the vegetables and lastly, the rice noodles. Just a regular bowl of noodles, he wouldn't eat this again at that price.


Went for a walkabout after the meal, and she had a ball of a time at the cosmetics department. Shan't go too much into that else it will never end. Let's view a picture of Christmas lighting outside the departmental store.


Had dinner at Ma Maison after her friend knocked off from work. It means "My House" in French, thanks to googling on his Android. The menu cover seemed to be of leather.


The table setting. Someone help name the design of the lamp-head? It has slipped his mind. The place was dimly lit and had soft music, love the ambience.


Starter of garlic butter escargots, $9.50++. The aroma was so distracting that the middle-aged couple at the next table kept looking over.


The soft and chewy morsel lasted for merely a few seconds. But the garlicky smell lingered in the mouth.


Tonkatsu for $15.90++. Lightly breaded, so it was not too oily. Meat was also succulent. He doesn't really have tonkatsu much, but enjoyed this. The shredded cabbage refreshed the palate, gearing him up for more food. Just kidding.


Black pepper sirloin steak for $22.50++. The beef-eater had this medium well, yet it was still juicy enough. It was a 200g portion, but looked slightly bigger than what they usually have.


Beef Stroganoff for $14.80++. Her friend had good comments for the beef, and lapped up the sauce with the omelette rice.

25 Sep 2011 - The Eastern Restaurant

As part of the "Eat-at-a-yet-to-visit-place" campaign, they visited The Eastern Restaurant. He had chanced upon some blogs that wrote about it.

Being located in Centrepoint sounded convenient, but they had a bit of trouble finding it in the mall. He frequented the fast food restaurants in the mall, but never knew the existence of The Eastern Restaurant. It was way back in the mall, with other restaurants like Ichiban Boshi and Lerk Thai.

The menu, immediately implying a basket of steamed pork dumplings....


Starter of spiced beef shank, $6.50++. Cold and nicely seasoned to prepare you for the feast.


Basket of four pork dumplings (xiao long bao) served on a piece of cabbage, $4++. Upon lifting the cover, the smell of cabbage wafted out. Some may like it, some may not. Nevertheless, it was an interesting way to serve the pork dumplings, other than in bases of cloth or tin.


Plate of three pan-fried pork dumpings (guo tie) for $3.80++. Liked it that the skin did not have the doughy smell, had a bit of broth within the dumplings too, tasty.


Stewed beef brisket noodles, $8.80++.
Noodles were hand-pulled, but he isn't sure if that contributed to the nice springy texture of the noodles. He had ordered 1 serving to share, and had to get the waitress' help to cut the noodles. That's because the noodles were really long, possibly the whole bundle was just a single strand of noodle.
Beef brisket looked dry, but they were deceived. It was actually tender and full of flavor.
Soup was touted to have collagen added, good for the skin. Liked the fact that it was not salty, providing reassurance to finish up the soup.


Special Furong Egg, $10.80++. This is scrambled egg white with crab meat. Not too sure if the brown shreds sprinkled on top were crab meat or conpoy, but they were crispy and tasty. In it were also bits of processed crabsticks and peas. What do you do with the raw egg yolk in the middle?


Add black vinegar and pepper, then beat up the mixture. They enjoyed this smooth and savoury dish. By the way, this portion is probably right for 4 persons, unless you really like eggs.


Serving of 5 dumplings in chilli oil, $6++. Reminded him of May 2010 in Taiwan's Shihlin Market, and he would later place orders of an additional 2 servings. The skin was moist and smooth, and the mixture of fried garlic, chilli oil and vinegar together titillated the senses.


Basket of three steamed custard buns for $4.50++. Tasted good enough, right mix of sweetness and saltiness, but the custard was not as full as expected. Still enjoyed this anyhow.

23 July 2011 - Badminton-less day

Second week that he went without badminton. And that would mean more time for food. Woke up at noon and tried to make brunch with whatever was in the kitchen. Eggs and oyster mushrooms.

Poached eggs in a pan shallowly filled with water. Refrigerated eggs are probably easier to work with, the room temperature eggs he used created a lot of "driftaways". Browned the bite-sized mushrooms with salt and butter in a frying pan.


After all that, he decided he should reward himself with an iced 7-up + lime drink.


One thing he hates about going without the badminton game is that time would usually be spent in malls, which would mean shopping and food. So, they visited Din Tai Fung on this day for some dim sum...

Fried pork cutlet $6.80++. Well-marinated and succulent as always.


Perhaps cutting against the grain helped a little.


Soon after, the beef noodles was served ($10++). Quality's still like the last time they had it, chunks of tender beef and tendons, smooth and springy noodles, and the tasty soup almost had them fighting over the single serving again.


Third to arrive was the basket of 10 pork dumplings (xiao long bao), $9.00++. Yummy little dumplings bursting with delicious soup stock.
(picture seems to be missing)

Lastly (maybe not), was another basket of 10 shrimp and pork dumplings (siew mai), $13.50++. The waiter had to stack this on-top of the xiao long bao basket, and the people at the next table stared for a good few seconds. In awe, in admiration or in disgust at the voracious appetite, he would never know. He didn't like this one that much. The prawns weren't sweet or crunchy, and the top part of the skin wrapping the prawns was too thick. However, the base of pork filling was fine, probably the same stuff as the pork dumpling above.


Was waiting for their refill of tea when he spotted the promotion for DBS card members. 15% off basket of 4 chilli crab dumplings, usual price $6. Looked interesting, so he placed an order for that. Despite the long waiting time, it didn't disappoint. The base was made up of minced pork, and the rest were chilli crab meat, spicy with a tinge of sweetness. Thumbs up to this.