Botan Japanese Restaurant @ Far East Square

Decided to bring my colleague to this Japanese Restaurant (at Far East Square) which Audrey and I usually go to for lunch. I love their bento sets as the the variety of appetitisers are pretty varied. This place was recommended to me by Audrey and I fell in love with their food immediately

My colleague commented that the sauce bottle looks really really cute. So, I decided to snap a pic of it

Both of us ordered the grilled fish with steamed egg bento set. Each set comes with rice, appetisiers, side dish, raw fish, soup, steamed egg and fruits.

I replaced my raw fish with agedashi tofu cos I do not take raw stuff. My colleague commented that the raw fish were pretty good.

The raw fish were replaced with 4 pcs of Agedashi Tofu (which is alot to me)

The Grilled Saba and the different types of appetitisers. My colleague and I loved this side dish. It’s smashed tofu mixed with chopped black fungus and carrots bits and then deep fried to golden brown. And you eat this with some sauce that comes with it. Nice. Loved the Chawanmushi too. The steamed egg is so smooth it basically glided down my throat. Yummy Here’s the total cost for 2 grilled fish bentos Botan Japanese Restaurant Pte Ltd 36/37 Pekin Street #01-01 Far East Square Singapore 048766 Read more on the discussions of Botan Restaurant here

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 

 

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)

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

 

Vegetarian Zi Char @ Circuit Road Food Centre

I did not know that there can be so many stalls selling Vegetarian food all located in the same Food Centre till ED brought me to this one at Blk 79 Circuit Road

Most of the Veg Zi Char stalls are only open in the evenings as they cater to the dinner/ supper crowd.

Managed to find one that’s open for lunch and I order a few dishes from this stall

Stir-fried Vegetarian Kidney slices with ginger shreds and assorted veg

Claypot Tofu and Veg Combo

Sweet & Sour Veg Pork Ribs

The 3 zi char dishes plus 2 plates of rice cost $18. Quite reasonable and the food were very very tasty

Saw alot of people order Char Kway Teow and Chai Tow Kuey from this stall and ordered a plate of Char Kway Teow and Fried Carrot Cake from him. Uncle got a bit of attitude problem. But the food is fantastic. Loved it so much

Stall #01-712

Fried Carrot Cake – $2

Char Kway Teow – $3

The Food Centre is divided into 2 sections. One section sells mostly Vegetarian food and the other section are the non-Vegetarian food.

Seoul Yummy @ Square 2

ED gave the family a nice nice lunch treat at this Korean Restaurant at Square 2 on Sunday. It’s called Seoul Yummy. Tucked in a little discreet corner of Level 3.

There is this premium set lunch for 2 but we ordered ala carte instead

Ordered the Hotplate potato pancake. It taste a little crispy on the outside and very soft inside.

Cost is $4.80

You have to dip it in a sauce that comes with the pancake. Eat it hot cos it dun taste so nice when it’s cold.

Order a Korean Curry Fish Cutlet for my maid. It comes with a bowl of seaweed soup. My maid said the fish is very crispy and nice and the curry is not spicy at all (maybe to her standards it’s not spicy).

Korean Curry Fish Cutlet – $8.80

Ordered this Saba Fish on hotplate. Fish was very nicely grilled and there’s no fishy taste or smell. Fish tasted soft and nice. Loved it very much. It comes with a bowl of rice and seaweed soup.

Seaweed Soup

There is a promo going on for Kimchi Pork Dumplings and the usual was $4.80 and now it’s $1.99.

I like it very much. Not very spicy and it tasted a bit sour, slightly spicy and the meat very full of juice.

Ah.. this is my favourite. My fav Dang Jar Hotpot (ie Beanpaste Tofu Hotpot). There’s clams, pork slices, tofu and assorted veg in the soup. Yummy . Comes with brown rice for this set but I opt for white rice instead

ED ordered Spicy Pork on Hotplate. Comes with a bowl of rice and seaweed soup too. Pork slices were not too spicy and very tender.

Spicy Pork on Hotplate – $9.80

We decided to order desserts to share. Saw these pictures of nice desserts plastered on the wall in the restaurant

We ordered this fruity yogurt ice cream with assorted fruit slices on shaved ice. This taste 200% nicer than the one we had at Ice Monster.

Truly Fruity – $8.80. Comes with strawberry, banana, kiwi, watermelon, pineapple slices and mashmellows. Yummy

Total cost for all the food and drinks (we ordered Korean Roasted Barley Tea at $1.20 per pax) = $66.60 (inclusive of all the taxes and charges)

Food is nice and price is quite reasonable. I would definitely go back there again.

Seoul Yummy
Square 2 #03-68
Tel : 6397 6939

Lunch @ Moi Lum

Had quite a nice lunch @ Moi Lum Restaurant today. We ordered the set lunch ($50 for 3-4 pax) and the Sharks Fin with Crab Meat Omelette

We replaced the Majestic Crispy Fried Chicken with Braised Roast Pork with Yam and add an additional $4 for it.

First Dish – Crab Meat Fish Maw Soup. Tasted quite nice and there were alot of fish maw in the soup. 1 small pot serves 6. There’s only 3 of us so each of us had 2 bowls each. By the end of the second bowl I was quite full to eat the other dishes

Second Dish – Crab Meat with Sharksfin omelette. This is the extra ala-carte dish we ordered. Take a bit of the omelette and wrap it with lettuce before eating it. Dish was ok but nothing to rave about. $30 for this dish.

Third Dish – Mustard Leaves Paired with Abalone Mushrooms. The mushrooms tasted really nice and it tasted almost like the real abalone. A light and refreshing dish

Fourth Dish – Braised Roast Pork with Yam. This dish was not bad. Yam was well braised in the Nan Ru sauce.

Fifth Dish – Salted egg Spring Roll.

The dessert was quite nice. It’s handmade mango pudding with cocktail. Pudding was soft and not too sweet.

Moi Lum Restaurant Pte Ltd
38 Maxwell Road, Airview Building, #01-01
Singapore 069116
Tel: 62262283
Fax: 67462839
Email: reservation@moilum.com

Sembawang Hills Food Centre

Went to Sembawang Hill Food Centre for lunch last weekend. The place wasn’t really big but it offers quite a good variety of very nice local food.The fish soup stall was the most popular (seen from the long queue forming from the stall).I tried the fish soup and rice set. It’s very very fresh and nice. There are at least 15 slices of fish in the bowl of soup. Total cost = $3.50 (fish soup) + $0.30 (a bowl of rice)

Ordered the Lontong from Yong Kee for my maid. She said the lontong tasted great and polished the whole plate off in a flash (not a drop of gravy was left)I only managed to take what is left on her plate cos she started eating while I was still queuing for the fish soup. She said the lontong is very very nice. Yong Kee #01-02

Ordered a bowl of prawn and abalone clam noodles for $2.50. Had the dry version and the uncle was very generous with Tomato Ketchup. The noodles tasted nice and q. Abalone Clams were fresh too. I din eat the prawns (due to allergy) and let ED finished it up. Meng Kee Abalone Clams Prawn Noodles #01-05 Ordered 4 pcs of shui kway @ $1.20 for 4 pcs.The rice kway was very very soft and melts in your mouth but the chai por wasn’t as great. However, the chilli packs a punch and tasted great with the shui kway. Shui Kway #01-16

The popiah was nice. Tasted like what my grandma would make. $1.20 for a pc without lup cheong. Order one with chilli and one without chilli. Ping Kee Popiah #01-32

Nice and cheap fruit juices are sold at Kwok Fruits & Juices. $2.00 per glass and the juices tasted really fresh and sweet.Had a glass of papaya with carrot juice ($2.00) and a glass of apple, beetroot & carrot juice ($2.50). They do not charge you extra if you do not want ice in your juice. And they give you approx the same amount of juice with or without ice. Really value for money Kwok Fruits & Juices #01-30

Sembawang Hill Food Centre 590 Upper Thomson Road, Sembawang Hill Food Centre Singapore(574419)