Korean Lunch @ O Dae Yang

Was having lunch with Hyacinthus at this newly opened Korean Restaurant along Peck Seah Street.

The decor looks nice and the prices seems pretty reasonable so we decided to give it a try.

The restaurant was quite empty except for 8 Korean men having their lunch there.

After looking at their menu, Hyacinthus ordered a beef Bibimbak and Seafood Tofu Hotpot while I ordered a pork Bibimbak.

We were served some nice Korean Roasted Barley Tea and 8 dishes of appetistiers. These are complimentary.

I think they are very generous with their appetistiers. Some of which we had never tasted before.

This is the Fried Sliced Fish Omelette. It’s a cold dish. Taste quite nice and there is no fishy taste at all. 

Fried Ikan Bilis and Peanuts with Sugar. I like this dish. Savoury and sweet at the same time. Yummy

Kimchi was ok. Hyacinthus said that the one she ate in Korean is nicer as it’s fresher and crunchier. But this one is not bad either.

Fried Bean Sprouts. Nothing special.

Preserved Kelp. Very refreshing in taste. Sourish with a tinge of saltiness. Not bad.

Boiled Spinach. Also we found this dish pretty ordinary too.

Pickled korean cucumbers. This dish is very refreshing too. The cucumber slices were crunchy and it tasted a little sourish.

Hyacinthus and I love this appetitiser dish the best. I think it’s marinated and cooked in sweet sauce. It tasted sweet and a little bit salty. Very very nice. Pretty unique appetitiser cos we never had this before at other Korean Restaurants.

Here comes my Pork Bibimbak. Comes with a bowl of soybean sprouts soup. We liked the soybean sprouts but the soup is only average in taste. 

The pork slices were very tender and soft. Overall the taste was not bad

Here’s Hyacinthus’s Beef Bibimbak

After mixing up all the ingredients and the accompanying paste, the Bibimbak looks like this:

The utensils are so nicely wrapped in paper.

Seafood Tofu Soup. Tasted a little spicy. Eat it hot cos the taste would be better. Comes with mussels and some other seafood.

We were served complementary dessert too. Both of us really loved the dessert alot. Cool and refreshing with a tinge of lime taste. Really refreshing to have such a dessert esp on a hot day.

Total Cost of everything we ordered is:

Pretty reasonable. I think I would return to the O Dae Yang again. The other Korean restaurant (Sampo) that’s next to it don’t taste as nice and it’s more expensive. See my other review on Sampo

O Dae Yang Korean Seafood Restaurant
76 Peck Seah Street 
Singapore 079331
Tel: 6396 5356

It’s located very near to the Tanjong Pagar MRT Station 

 

Mayim Chinese Cuisine @ West Mall

Had family dinner at this very very popular chinese restaurant @ West Mall. The food is great and the prices are reasonable. Serving size per dish is quite small so we decided to order more dishes since there are at least 6 of us.

Ordered 3 pots of tea to share.

Superior Chrysanthemum Tea

Shou Mei with Wolberries Tea. I like this tea the best among the 3 pots of tea ordered. Very light and refreshing taste.

Blend of Jasmine Tea with Rose Bud. We found this a tad too bitter for our liking. Maybe too much Jasmine Tea instead of Rose buds.

Stir-fried egg plant with minced meat.

This dish is very well prepared. The egg plant wasn’t overcooked and not too soggy and at the same time it absorbed the sauces very well. I love this dish. Complement plain rice very well.

Sliced fish cooked with black fungus and straw mushrooms. The fish soup was delicious and there’s no fishy taste at all. Fish slices were very soft and nice.

Stir-fried spinach with chinese sausage slices (ie lup cheong), roasted pork slices and bacon bits. This dish is very nice too. Din know that spinach can taste so delicious when cooked with lup cheong. Yummy.

Ordered dumplings that comes with soup and the other boiled and served with braised sauce and chilli oil. Frankly speaking I prefer the latter as it’s more favourful. The dumpling skin are really thin and the meat filling is generous.

Scallops fried with spring onions and fried flat fish. The scallops are very nice.

So how big and juicy the scallops are.

This has to be the best calamari I had eaten so far. The calamari rings are thick but they dun taste chewy at all. Instead it’s so easy to bite. Soft on the insides and crispy on the outside. Dip this with the accompanying chilli sauce… simply heavenly.

Handmade seafood tofu fried till golden brown and top with avocado mayo. Tofu was very soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. Ate it with the avocado mayo provides a very unique taste.

Fried Udon with pork slices, chives, black fungus shreds and mushrooms. Very delicious too.

Fried Cod Fish with Ginger Shreds. Cod fish cooked in this manner rid it of any fishy taste and beneath the crispy surface are very soft cod fish meat tat still retains its meat juice. Eat it with the ginger shreds while it’s still hot.

Honeyed pork ribs with fried garlic bits. Pork is soft and tasted sweet.

Total Cost for all the food and drinks we had ordered is $139.95 (inclusive of service charge and GST). Pretty reasonable.

Mayim Chinese Cuisine
1 Bukit Batok Central Link
#02-04 West Mall
Singapore 658713
Tel: 6794 1590

Reservations are highly recommended as the restaurant is always full of people and you can see long queues forming outside it during dining hours.

Delicious Dumplings @ Fong Kee

It’s one of our colleague’s last day and we decided to have lunch @ Fong Kee before they moved to their new location at North Bridge Road. They used to be located at Murray Terrace and are not in the midst of moving over to their new location in Jun 2008.

Decor in the old restaurant @ Murray Terrace

We ordered quite a lot of food and we had a hard time finishing them.

Pan-fried gyozas. You dip the gyoza in the vinegar to enhance its taste. Take a bit of ginger shred to complement it. Tasted really great.

See how thin the skin is and the gyozas have so much meat filling in them.

We also ordered Boiled Dumplings and Xiao Long Bao (Steamed Meat Dumplings) too.

Also ordered their honey pork chops. Very very nice and tender. Really love the pork chops.

We also ordered Braised Bean Sauce Noodles. The noodles were very springy and delicious. Just that we were too full to finish it. Really should had ordered so much food.

We round up the meal with these delicious pan-fried red bean paste pancake topped with roasted sesame. Simply yummy.

Fong Kee also has a delivery service. Details taken from the website, no number given at the website though, you’ll have to refer to the namecard below I think; the delivery tel no is 62203318

They have a few outlets and one of them is at People’s Park.

Blk 32 New Market Road #01-1148
People’s Park Centre Singapore 050032
Tel: 6532 3318

@ Murray Terrace is closed and would be moving to 787 North Bridge Road in Jun 2008.

Wood Restaurant @ Vivocity

It’s ED’s birthday and I decided to give him a lunch treat @ Wood Restaurant at Vivocity. Food and ambience was pretty good.

Here’s the menu for the set lunch

We ordered a bottle of sparkling mineral water as they do not really give you water FOC.

Sparkling Mineral Water cost $8++. A bottle can fill approx 4 glasses. Tasted pretty refreshing

I had the Wood Roasted Asparagus Soup. While ED had the House smoke salmon, buffalo mozarella with lemon dressing.

The soup tasted great. It’s creamy but not overpowering.

Pita bread tasted really great even on its own. Dipped it with some olive oil to enhance the flavour of the herbs in the bread. It complements the soup very well too. I had 2 servings of it

For Main course, I had the Sea Bass and Ed ordered the Steak.

I find the sea bass was a bit fishy. It comes with Jap rice wrapped with boiled cabbage and cut into 2. Looks like sushi to me. but the rice tasted really nice. I expected it to be bland but it’s not. Slightly salty and the juiciness of the cabbage complements the rice realy well.

ED had the steak with roasted mushrooms and asparagus. He dun really eat mushroom and this is the first time I see him eat it. He said they mushrooms are so nicely roasted that he can stomach the mushroom taste (for once )

There’s a mixture of shitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, straw mushrooms and button mushrooms. All nicely roasted. The steak was very very tender too (from ED feedback cos i dun take beef)

Decor of the restaurant. Looks very nice and cosy. We were sitting on very very nice and comfy sofas. As you dine, you can hear very nice Bossa Nova music being played.

So wat’s the total cost for the lunch?

2 set lunches @ $35++/pax = $70++

1 glass of white wine = $14++

1 bottle of sparkling mineral water = $8++ (UOB card discount for this item)

Total = $104 (approx). Discount for UOB card members is only applicable for items ordered from the ala carte menu.

The ambience is really nice. The couch is so cosy too. I think it would be even more romantic at night when the place is dark and lit by candles. The food is not cheap but it’s good and you are paying for quality and ambience. Can splurge and give your special someone a treat there once in a while for special occasions.

1 Harbourfront Walk #01-53 VivoCity
Singapore 098585
Tel: 6375-9663 (6375-WOOD)
info@woodrestaurant.com

Open daily
Lunch 11.30am – 2.30pm
Dinner 6.30pm – 10.30pm
Bar 11.30am – midnight (weekdays)
11.30pm – 1am (weekends)

Dim Sum Lunch @ Noble House

Had a farewell lunch for a colleague who’s leaving at Noble House. It’s been years since I last visited this restaurant and I noticed that the management had renovated the place.

We order dim sum from their ala carte menu as Noble House do not offer ala carte buffets anymore.

The pan-fried carrot cake was very nice. Crisp on the outside and soft inside. I prefer the pan-fried version to its steamed one.

Here’s the steamed carrot cake. Very soft and melts in your mouth but I felt it’s a bit bland compared to the fried version.

Minced Pork with Century Egg congee. Not very nice. Somehow a bit bland. Was kinda disappointed.

Char Siew Pastries. I like this one. Very soft inside. Nice

Fried Banana with Prawn Rolls.

Prawns wrapped with beancurd skin and fried till golden brown. Prawns were huge and crunchy. Beancurd skin was crisp and nice.

Yam Rolls. There’s some char siew filling instead and wrap with yam paste on the outside and fried till golden brown. I love this one. Really delicious. Eat it hot.

Peking Duck. Add some sauce and a cucumber stick and eat it together with the peking duck.

We round off the meal with these fruit juices served in test tubes. $2.50 each. It’s a blend of beetroot, lemon and apples. Very very refreshing and it aids in digestion

In general, the fried dim sum tasted much nicer than those steamed ones. If I compare this with the dim sum I had eaten at the other Tung Lok outlet (Tung Lok Seafood Arena), I would say that the dim sum at the Seafood Arena is nicer than these at Noble House.

And I think Noble House specialities are not in dim sum but dishes like the Stir Fried Symbal Asparagus with Fresh Scallops.

Noble House
UIC Building #06-13
5 Shenton Way S(068808)

A Bread Stall @ Blk 79 Circuit Road Food Centre

Saw this stall selling freshly made buns and mini choc muffins in a Food Centre at Circuit Road. Fancy a hawker stall selling bread and muffins in a hawker centre. But business was brisk. And from the posters pasted on the stall, it was even featured in a TV programme before.

The Fresh Bread Shop #01-624

Posters on the stall

Rows and rows of freshly baked buns.

Buns are soft and fluffy. And cheap too

Cheese buns.. anyone ?

These mini muffins taste so chocolatey and delicious. Regret only buying 3 pcs. Will be getting more the next time I am there

Curry Potato Bun. Nice and soft and fluffy

Blk 79 Circuit Road

Vegetarian Buffet Lunch @ Grand Court Restaurant

Am on Vegetarian diet today and so Hyacinthus suggested we have lunch at this vegetarian restaurant @ Chinatown.

Started my lunch with some refreshing salad which you DIY at the buffet counter.

Vegetarian Kway Chap. Very nice. The Kway Teow was very Q. The mock meat are not very salty too.

A smiley mocked intestine

Some of the Veg dim sum available.

More veg dim sum

Buffet includes fried olive rice, fried kway teow mee, tofu, assorted stir fried veg, veg curry etc. Food in general is not salty or sweet and not too oily too.

Buffet includes desserts like fruits, some kuehs and red bean soup

I would say the food is only avg (in my humble opinion).

And being small eaters, me and Hya din ate alot. Intially we wanna order ala carte but when we looked at the menu prices we felt it’s more worth to have the buffet instead.

Buffet is only available for lunch only.

Here’s the cost

Grand Court Vegetarian Restaurant

No. 20 Trengganu Street

#03-01 Singapore 058479

Tel: 62385085

 

Melben Seafood @ Toa Payoh Lor 8

Treated my mom to a nice seafood dinner to celebrate her birthday as well as mother’s day. Went to Melben Seafood Restaurant @ Toa Payoh Lor 8 for the dinner. They have other branches but we chose the one at Toa Payoh since my mom wanna shop around Toa Payoh after the meal

Ordered their famous Crab Bee Hoon. The soup was very tasty. Cost of the crabs are charged by weight. We ordered 2 crabs and total cost is $83.

If you want more soup or bee hoon for your dish, you have to pay for the extras.

 

This is the other crab dish we ordered. It’s called Creamy Butter Crabs. I love to dipped the fried mantou into the buttery creamy sauce and eat it. Tasted heavenly

 

 Looks how meaty the crab’s claws are.

 

We also ordered a plate of longevity noodles since it’s mommy’s birthday. My dad said it’s very very delicious. And he polished off most of the noodles haha

the prawns are huge and crunchy. I did not ate them but my bro did.

Guinness Stout Pork Ribs. The meat was very very tender and it absorbed the taste of the sauces very well. But i can’t really taste the Guinness Stout.

 

Ah this is my dad’s fav. Brocolli with Sea Cucumber and Braised Mushrooms. Cost about $15.

Lastly we ordered a Steamed Fish done in Teochew style. Fish was very big and meat was very tender. But we found it a bit too salty as the chef uses too much salted veg. But overall this dish is good.

 

Total cost for all the above dishes ordered is $200. The lady rounded down the bill to $200 and do away with all the cents.

I find it a bit pricey but the food is good. The shop is opp a hawker centre and there were many stalls selling durians there. If you wish to have your dinner there, please make reservations in advance. Else you have to queue for a long time for a table.

I saw many people drinking red wine. Not sure if the shop sells wine to go with the food or they brought their own wine from home.

Mellben Seafood

Blk 211,

Lorong 8 Toa Payoh

#01-11-15

Tel: 6353-3120