Tiffin Club

Bonjour! (:

I'm feeling pretty perky this weekend despite the horrific amount of work that I've (yet) to do but I guess being slightly detached from work at times isn't too bad a thing yea?

To kick start the weekend, Jeffrey and I made our way to Tiffin Club, which is located somewhere near Chinatown. We don't usually frequent Chinatown area and if we do, we usually go to People's Park Food Centre for good hawker fare. Anyway, it was nice driving past Chinatown because we saw Chinese New Year decorations being put up! =) I would love to visit Chinatown again when it's closer to CNY to see the light-up and take in the festive atmosphere.

We managed to find Tiffin Club without much difficulty, probably because it takes up quite a huge corner of this particular row of shophouses. Although it may look quite big on the outside, the interior area is actually much smaller than expected.

There are three levels in Tiffin Club. The bar area occupies the first level, the main dining area is on the second level and there's a relatively small living-room-like seating area on the third level.

The third level of Tiffin Club - in-house living room.

The second level of Tiffin Club/ main dining area. Their decoration is simple and minimalistic, which I like a lot. As their floor area is small, their seating capacity isn't big either. I'd think that the restaurant can house 20+ people at most at any one time.

Although it was lunch time, the restaurant was surprisingly empty when we arrived. We'd the pleasure of feeling like we were eating at someone's place instead of a restaurant, at least until two other families joined us. Nevertheless, the atmosphere was relaxed and pleasant.

Their interesting menu which is pinned to a round-bottom board.

For starters, we shared a tofu and grilled vegetables salad ($12). I'm starting to realise that I'm quite a fan of grilled vegetables so I was more than happy to see that they actually offered such a dish. The vegetable slices were a little too thick for my liking but they were grilled rather nicely. The tofu cubes were fried ala Japanese fried tofu style, which was good because Jeffrey likes them. The most unique feature of this dish is its peanut sauce! It's slightly spicy and somehow it somehow manages to give the entire dish a very exciting twist.

For mains, we had the spinach ravioli ($16), which I didn't like a lot because of a particular strong herby taste and smell. The raviolis were very well done though (:

We also had the fish & chips ($15), which tasted much better than it looked. The crusty breaded layer went extremely well with the soft and fresh dory fillet. We felt that the fries were pretty average and could have been better.

As I was feeling greedier than usual yesterday, I chose to order two desserts instead of sharing one despite feeling pretty full. Another 'justification'/ excuse I can give for my gluttonous behaviour is that the waiter told us that the dessert portions are usually quite small, hence we decided to go for two. Anyhow, we settled for the spiced bitter chocolate pudding ($8), which tasted more like mousse rather than pudding. While I must admit that this was a little too much for me to finish on my own (Jeffrey hardly ate this because he didn't really like the taste), I was glad that I ordered it because it made me realise that non-sweet chocolate mousse can taste good as well! I especially liked the crackly cornflakes-like-things that came with the pudding. Definitely something special which you should try if you're feeling adventurous.

The other dessert that we ordered was more conventional - molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and coffee sauce ($10). I think it's a pretty smart idea to place the molten chocolate cake in a cup as seen in the photo because it prevents the 'chocolate lava' from running all over the plate. The relatively bitter coffee sauce was a good contrast to the sweetness that oozed from the cake and icecream. The molten chocolate cake was pretty good though I think the 'lava' wasn't very flowy because the cake wasn't heated up long enough.

On the whole, we enjoyed our experience at Tiffin Club a lot and we'll definitely go back there again in future! (:

The Dining Room

One of the factors that attracts me to a particular dining place is ambience and surroundings. Personally, I like going to restaurants that are not extremely crowded or noisy so that I can have a decent conversation with my dining companion(s) without having to raise my voice to make myself heard or to strain my ears to hear what is being said. Although I prefer quieter surroundings, I don't feel very comfortable being in top-end, relatively quieter restaurants where the atmosphere is loaded with poshness.

Last weekend, Jeffrey and I went to The Dining Room at Sheraton Towers for their weekend high tea buffet and I was pretty impressed with the dining environment that the restaurant offers.

The Dining Room sits on a squarish-plot of land on the ground floor of Sheraton Towers and it is flanked by waterfalls and ponds on two sides of the restaurant. I really liked the 'natural' surrounding and it helped me get into the weekend mood. The sizeable high tea crowd at The Dining Room also helped to keep the atmosphere lively and happy.

We could have opted to have a la carte dishes but decided to go for the buffet instead since we've been waiting rather patiently to try it! It seems to us that this particular buffet is pretty popular because we were told that the restaurant was fully booked during the past few times that we called to make a reservation.

Complimentary tea.

Mini peking duck crepe roll which was pretty good.

Mango paste sushi, salmon sashimi and tamago slice. The mango paste sushi was interesting because I've never tasted such a sweet sushi before. Frankly, I didn't quite like it because I felt that mango and Japanese rice don't go well together. Other than that, the salmon sashimi slices were fresh and juicy! The tamago was nice as well.

Thai fried tofu with chilli sauce, Chinese popiah, tamago slice and more salmon sashimi. The thai fried tofu was superb! (: The chinese popiah was a tad disappointing because it was cold and it wasn't as flavourful as it could have been.

A variety of sushis and egg-and-ham sandwich. Their sushi weren't the best that we've tasted and their sandwiches were just.. bad. The bread was hard and the fillings were very bland =(

Clockwise direction from back: egg sandwich, shrimp dumpling, Chinese popiah, Vietnamese fried spring roll, fried flour fritter (with some filling which I forgot). The Vietnamese spring roll and the fried flour fritter were the best tasting dishes on this plate so I'd suggest you go for these two items before sampling the rest if you don't wish to waste your stomach space on less-than-desirable dishes.

Clockwise from left: fried fritter, Chinese popiah, Vietnamese popiah, shrimp dumplings, Singaporean style fried rice, black pepper chicken. Their fried rice has got to be the WORST that we've ever tasted in our lives. Not only was it bland and tasteless, it had this sour taste (which I attribute to the addition of diced tomatoes into their fried rice) which repelled the both of us from the dish. Their black pepper chicken tasted much better in comparison.

Clockwise from left: egg and cheese sandwich, black pepper chicken, fried rice, shrimp dumpling, Chinese popiah.

There was a laksa counter but since neither of us was in the mood for laksa, we didn't try it. Instead, I made a beeline for the dessert counter! I was pretty relieved when I saw what they'd to offer for desserts because honestly, I was disappointed with their non-dessert dishes. Thankfully, the quality of their desserts was much better than expected so this buffet experience was somewhat 'saved'.

Walnut cheesecake, chocolate brownie, chocolate mousse with crunchy base cake. Jeffrey and I adore the chocolate cake with crunchy base! The chocolate mousse and the crunchy base are a match made in heaven, intoxicatingly delicious!

Durian pengyat. As most of you know, I'm pretty fond of durians and duriany stuff so I consumed two (or is it three?) bowls of durian pengyat! The durian flavour was very strong and the paste was thick enough for my liking. Yumyum.

Chocolate & banana bread & butter pudding with vanilla sauce. This was THE highlight of my entire meal at The Dining Room! Initially, I was a bit skeptical as to how this would taste because my previous encounter with a chocolate bread and butter pudding wasn't very friendly but this was PERFECT! (: I loved it so much that I had two big bowls of bread and butter pudding! You MUST try this or you'll be missing out on good stuff!

More chocolate mousse with crunchy base cake and mango cream puff! Initially, I didn't want to try the mango cream puff because it looks suspiciously dangerous but in the end I decided to give into my curiosity and took one back to the table! It actually tasted pretty good but I felt that the mango filling was slightly too artificial for my liking.

Chocolate lava cake and vanilla icecream. You've to place a special order for this from the lady at the counter because it's not displayed prominently. The chocolate lava was pretty thin and the vanilla icecream tasted odd. It was definitely not the best that we've had but it still makes a relatively decent dessert.

For a restaurant that gave us the impression that it serves wonderful food because it was fully booked whenever we attempted to make reservations, I think The Dining Room falls way below my expectations. Their dishes contained a mixture of hits and misses but I feel that there were more misses than hits (considering most of the hits came from the dessert section). Moreover, the range of food served is not very extensive. For about $33/ pax (after 15% credit card discount), I think we could have gotten better food at other restaurants but I'm still glad I visited The Dining Room for a taste of what they've to offer.

Epicurious @Robertson Quay

Hello!

How's everyone doing? It's the first week of school for me and frankly, I'm feeling a little lost and unused to being back in school but I'm sure I'll be forced back into work-mode very soon because there's just so much to do!

In an attempt to end my holidays on a nice note, we decided to head to Epicurious at Robertson Quay to indulge in some comfort food!

The indoor dining area of Epicurious is relatively small so most of the patrons (including us) had our meals outdoors. The weather wasn't too hot on the day we visited this much talked about restaurant so we weren't bothered by the heat.

We shared a long table with another couple so it was a little like eating at a food court. I like the idea of placing a container that is filled with cutlery and other meal essentials so diners can help themselves to whatever they need.

Initially, I wanted to have eggs benedict but it wasn't available on that day so I chose to go for the waiter's recommendation, which was Green Eggs and Ham ($12) . If you're wondering why it's called "green eggs", it's because the eggs are mixed with pesto and it tastes really good! I've grown to like pesto-flavoured things quite a bit and Epicurious's green eggs definitely hit the spot for me. Apart from the green-eggs-bacon-on-toast, I also had roasted potatoes (which were warm and delectably delicious) and a slice of watermelon on the side.

Jeffrey opted for the combo grilled chicken tenderlion sandwich ($9). The most interesting aspect of this dish to me is the sidedish! I've never seen such crackers being served as sides apart from when I eat Indian food. It's definitely something different from the usual salad. Jeffrey didn't say much about his chicken sandwich so I guess it's pretty normal.

To end off our meal, we chose to have their bread & butter pudding ($8) because I haven't had bread & butter pudding for a long time! Admittedly, their vanilla sauce was a tad too thin and uneven for my liking but the quality of their bread & butter pudding more than made up for it! It was denser than other bread and butter puddings that I've had but somehow it didn't taste bad. I actually liked its starchiness so for those who prefer to have something light for dessert, please do not order this.

As Epicurious is one of the listed White Card restaurants, we got 50% off these three dishes! =) I love getting discounts! =) We'll probably make a trip down to the new Epicurious outlet at Rail Mall to try their food and see if there's any difference. Having a nice meal with Jeffrey at Epicurious was definitely a good way to ease my return-to-school blues. I hope to continue trying out new restaurants despite my potentially busier/crazier schedule this year! (:

Alright, I'll end off here. Take care and have a great week ahead!

PS Cafe @Paragon

I know most of you will probably find non-meaty/ veggie burgers pretty disgusting because who in the right mind will pay money for a burger stuffed with veggie patty and vegetables, but you know what? I actually LIKE eating veggie burgers! =)

To be frank, I used to be one of those who think that veggie burgers belong to the category of food that I will never touch but I'd a change of mind after trying Monster Mash's veggie burger. Ever since then, I'll make a subtle attempt to try veggie burgers whenever I don't feel like having the other more 'worth it' stuff on the menu.

A few days ago, I chanced upon one of the nicest tasting veggie burgers that I've tasted in a while. A couple of friends and I were at PS Cafe at Paragon and I decided to order their Garden Vegetable Burger because I never had the chance to try this. Prior to this visit, I've only patronised the PS Cafe outlet at Harding Road so I didn't have knowledge of this gem because it isn't listed in their menu. Different PS Cafes have varying menus so you may want to check them out to help you decide which outlet to go to.

Garden vegetable burger ($20). As you can see, the vegetable patty that was wedged in between the two wholesome multigrain buns was thick and well-cooked. I was a little uncertain as to whether it'll taste as good as it looks but all my doubts vanished when I took my first bite. The vegetable patty was, in my opinion, what a perfect veggie patty should be: moist, packed with many kinds of vegetables, flavourful and non-oily. I enjoyed eating every morsel of it! =)

Although the PS burger is gloriously good, you may want to try their garden vegetable burger if you are keen to try an alternative burger (: Oh, and if you know of any other places that serves nice veggie burgers, please let me know! Thanks!

Have a great weekend! (:

Hua Ting

Last weekend, my mother decided to be extremely generous so she treated all of us to dim sum lunch. Unfortunately, my father was at work so he couldn't join us for our dim sum feast! Being a fan of dim sum, my mum was keen to try Hua Ting's dim sum because she has often seen it being advertised.

Hua Ting is located inside Orchard Hotel and it's a very family-oriented Chinese restaurant. Despite being there a couple of times, I've never tried their dim sum and I was eager to taste whether the quality of their dim sum could match the stellar quality of their a la carte dishes.

For appetizer, we were served two plates of bean curd skin ($3.80/ plate). The bean curd skin tastes very vegetarian but it didn't taste too oily. The bean curd skin was a little tough but perhaps it was meant to be served this way? My mother liked this rare appetizer a lot.

Baked chicken and mango tart ($1.30 each; $3.90/ plate) The mango taste was very subtle yet it gave the tart a distinguishable fruitiness which sets it apart from other chicken tarts. Nice.

Cheong fun with fresh scallops ($4.80/ plate). This dish was absolutely lovely. The skin of the cheong fun was thin yet it could hold together and the rolls were stuffed with fresh scallops! The soya sauce concoction that we poured over this dish was also made to perfection - neither too sweet nor too salty. We also ordered the cheong fun with fresh prawns ($4.80/ plate) and while it tasted good as well, I can't help but prefer the scallops dish. It's definitely a must-try!

Steamed crystal prawn dumplings or har gao ($1.60 each; $4.80/ basket). I always thought that Crystal Jade's prawns were big and succulent but the prawns at Hua Ting are even bigger! The prawns were wrapped snugly under the thin skin and all that you can taste after sinking your teeth into a single har gao is the springy and juicy prawn. We loved this dish.

Century egg porridge ($8/ bowl). We thought that this bowl of porridge was slightly overpriced. It was a little too runny for our liking but it still tasted nice.

Steamed siew mai with shrimp roe ($1.60 each; $4.80/ basket). Compared to the har gao, this wasn't as popular because it tasted pretty average. Perhaps you can skip this dish and try something else instead.

Steamed xiao long bao stuffed with crab meat and roe ($1.50 each; $4.50/ basket). The xiao long baos were a great disappointment. The skin was poorly made - most of us couldn't lift the xiao long bao off the basket without tearing the skin and it was too hard and tough. In addition, the soup in the xiao long bao wasn't as delicious as the ones that we have tasted at other restaurants. I hope they'll do something to improve this dish.

Steamed glutinous rice with abalone ($2.60 each; $5.20/ basket). Frankly, I thought this tasted pretty average and I definitely didn't detect any hint of abalone! I thought it was just normal glutinous rice! Oops. Unless you've a craving for warm glutinous rice, I think you can give this a miss too.

Deep fried bean skin roll with prawn ($1.60 each; $4.80/ plate). One of my sisters commented that this tastes like the prawn version of 'seaweed chicken'. I thought the skin was more authentic though! It's definitely lighter and more crispy. If you prefer fried to steamed food, then this would be the fried version of har gao.

Deep fried seafood roll with mixed fruit salad ($1.50 each; $4.50/ plate). I thought that this dish was pretty interesting because I didn't expect the insides of the roll to be slightly sweet and cold! I actually liked the combination of warm, deep fried skin with cold fillings! The sweet and salty combination worked out well here and I thoroughly enjoyed eating this.

Pan fried carrot cake ($1.30 each; $3.90/ plate). This tasted pretty average so there's nothing to rave about.

Seafood fried rice ($15). I thought that the presentation of this dish was very Vietnamese/ Thai-ish. Who would have thought that seafood fried rice would be served in a coconut husk? I think the coconut husk managed to retain the moisture of the fried rice because the rice grains weren't dry and hard. It's worth a try!

Pork chop noodle soup ($10). It's essentially udon-like noodles in soup with a plate of fried pork chop (featured below). My brother ordered this because he didn't want to eat dim sum. I didn't think this dish was fantastic but I guess it's enough to satiate a hungry boy's tummy.

Fried pork chop that comes with a bowl of noodle soup.

For desserts, we ordered a bowl of herbal jelly ($6, not photographed) and black glutinous rice with vanilla ice cream ($12). Again, the coconut husk makes its grand appearance, which delighted me for some unknown reason. I guess I find it aesthetically pleasing? Anyhow, the black glutinous rice (aka pulut hitam) was cold and refreshing. I think vanilla ice cream makes as good a complement as coconut milk to black glutinous rice.

We managed to finish all the dishes that we ordered and we felt full and contented (: One word of caution though: their soft drinks don't come cheap so if you don't wish to spend $7 on a cup of soft drink, perhaps you can opt for a cup of tea at $2.50 each. Each of us had a cup of crysanthemum tea and some of us ordered soft drinks on top of that so we spent quite a lot on drinks! Oops. Anyway, I look forward to returning to Hua Ting again with my family to try their a la carte dishes some time in the near future! =)

Al Qasr

Before I start this entry, I would like to wish everyone Happy New Year! (:

My siblings and I cooked a simple NYE dinner and watched Public Enemy by way of celebrating the passing of 2009. I enjoyed our quiet, homely celebration because I personally dislike squeezing with crowds. Anyway, I hope that 2010 will be a great year for most, if not all, of us! May we make good use of time and effort to pursue the goals that we've set for ourselves!

On the eve of NYE, Jeffrey and I met up with a couple of friends at a Lebanese restaurant called Al Qasr in Holland Village.

One of our friends suggested having Lebanese food and we found this welcoming restaurant diagonally across Walawala. We browsed through the menu and found the items palatable so we went in and got ourselves a table.

The interior of the restaurant was very well-designed. The brown and red colours and the intricate details of the decorations on the walls gave off an exotic feel.

Turkish coffee ($5). I didn't expect it to be so dark in colour! My friend ordered this because he read/ heard about it =)

Complimentary soft nuts (tastes like one of those nuts you can find at kachang puteh stalls).

Complimentary vegetable nibblers.

As none of us have tried Lebanese food before, we simply chose what we thought we would like and thankfully, all of us gave thumbs up for our respective main courses. I think Lebanese food tastes a little like Indian food in that it's pretty laden with spices. As a result, the food is extremely flavourful and it leaves you and your tastebuds feeling highly satisfied. Here are some photos of our main courses:

Vegetarian kebab ($22).

Shirazy kebab/ Chicken kebab ($22).

Sultani kebab/ lamb kebab ($22).

Fish fillet ($27).

We dug into our food and finished all that were on our plates =) The staff were extremely friendly and nice. Not only did they offer us complimentary turkish sweets for dessert, they also served us complimentary cammomile tea after that! All of us were very impressed with their good service.

Complimentary turkish sweets.

In sum, we thoroughly enjoyed our dining experience at Al Qasr and we would definitely return for more good food! =)