A Glimpse @ Marina Bay Sands

Today we take our 2nd visit to the Marina Barrage from our way back from lunch in town. Since Grandma has not being to the Barrage before, we decided to make a trip over there so that she can take a look as the place as well as enjoying the beautiful scenery there. During our 1st visit last year, we didn't managed to get to this Water Park area where the kids and adults will be enjoying themselves with the cooling water......

Today's weather is much more better than the our revious trip. Although sun was shining bright and scotching, but thank God it is still a very windy day where you can see a lot of people flying all sort of kites at the roof top area. One that caught our attention is a "BIG BLUE SHARK"....but too big even though I zoom in to take the shot still can't take a close look of it....

From the roof top of the Barrage viewing deck area, you can take a better look at the almost completed "Marina Bay Sands - 滨海湾金沙综合娱乐城". This three cascading 55 storey hotel towers topped by an extraordinary sky park, ‘floating’ crystal pavilions, a lotus-inspired Museum, retail stores featuring cutting-edge labels and international luxury brands, trendy Celebrity Chef restaurants, endless of entertainment at the theaters and a Las Vegas-style casino is located along the Marina Bay waterfront. The expected completion date is roughly in the 2nd Quarter of 2010.

Sakae @ Orchard Central

Christmas is a wonderful time to spend with friends and family to enjoy a feast while at the same time admiring the Christmas decoration and lighting along Orchard area. This year there are a lot of interesting design Christmas Tree in or outside the shopping mall of Orchard road. Today we are going to have our dinner at the newly open Sakae outlet at Orchard Central. As usual this outlet brings out an fresh and bright outlook which brighten up the whole dinning atmosphere.

From the menu, we order Root Beer which to our surprised comes in glass bottle form which is almost obsolete compare to the usual can drinks that we used to see nowsaday. Seeing this drink serves in glass bottle really brings back some of our childhood memories....... And before we went back, Rey also grab another new "Froggy Cushion" from Sakae which he used it as his supporting pillow......

For the starter, we had Asari Miso Soup which is just nice and cosy for the raining weather outside. The soup is nice and full of flavour while the Clams are just nicely cooked which brings out it's sweetness.

These Renkon Chips (lotus root chips) is one of Rey's favourite. But the chip that served in this outlet seems to be a bit different from the other outlets. As you can see from the photo, the chips seems to be a bit soggy, and it doesn't taste light and crispy from those that we had tried before. I think it is either being soak in the oil for too long or the quality of the lotus root is different.

Although Ebiko Sushi is not a must in our list, we will still pick it up on and off whenever we find that it is fresh from the conveyor belt. I am sure you will get to fall in love with those tiny, bouncy and juicy egg roe that is served on top of the wrapped sushi rice.

The Potato Salad at Sakae is always one of my desire choice whenever I feel like having some cold Salad dish. The mashed potato is smooth and tasty with some addition of carrot cubes. It is served together with some salad green as well as some crispy deep-fried "Salmon Skin" if I am not wrong.

Lastly, we sure can't go without Rey's favourite Ebi Tempura, but today we have ordered the Tempura Moriawse instead of all prawns. Tempura Moriawse consists of a mixture of Prawns, Imitation Crabstick, Mushroom, Capsicum and etc. The combination of the mix vegetables will varies from time to time depend on the availability.

The Pasta Shop By Sakae

The Pasta Shop at Wheelock Place branch is one of the sister company own by the popular sushi chain restaurant - Sakae Sushi. Since we are at Orchard area doing our last minutes Christmas Gifts shopping, we decided to pop-in and to try some of their chef recommended items.

As readers of my blogs, you will know that I simply love all kinds of soup. So whenever I visit any restaurant, I will sure order one of their soup. For today, I ordered their Clam Chowder soup which cost around S$7.90 per bowl. The texture of the soup was great and i not over powder by the taste of the clam chowder. And the bread sticks goes just well with the soup so I guess this is worth trying :)

We ordered two plates of pasta dish, one is the TPS Carbonara served in Wafu cream sauce with crispy bacon and sunny-side up egg. The taste of the sauce was great, it was slightly infused with the fragrance of the bacon and left it with a kind of smokey taste. The sunny-side up egg is so nicely done that it adds extra points to the dish as well as the overall appearance.

Rey choose this "Japanese Style - Braised Five Flower Pork Burger" from the menu list because he was aiming at the fries and bread......... While I was eying on the "Braised Pork Belly". When the manager placed the burger on the table, we will so shock. The burger was "HUGE", it was about 1.5 times or slightly bigger than the usual fast food burger that we use to have. The homemade bread was soft and nice, but we still find that the braised pork can be more soften as in and full of that special favour that melt in the mouth.

There are really too many selection to choose from the menu, so after much thinking and selecting, we settle for this chef recommendation of the Japanese Style Tsuyu Cream Sauce with Sea Urchin, Salmon Roe and Squid topped with extra shredded nori sheet. The waitress was very kind and thoughtful that she actually let us know before confirming our order that the 3 main ingredients are all RAW. Personally, this is our very first time trying out Sea Urchin(also known as Uni), and the most challenging part is we have to eat this raw........ But at least, we took the courage to try it out and it has a very strong aroma and taste which might not be acceptable by most people.

As for refreshing, we ordered a cup of coffee and this Yuzu Ice Blended. Yuzu (柚子) has an aromatic zest that is used for garnishing some dishes or bakes while its juice is commonly used as a seasoning, somewhat like the way the lemon is used in other cuisines. This Yuzu Ice Blended has a very refreshing and fragrance taste that can "washed" away the grease of those creamy pasta and pork belly that we consumed :p And they also topped this drink with some fresh cut Aloe Vera to enhance the texture.

If love western pasta, you might wish to give this Japanese-style pasta shop a visit and try out their way of preparing these mouth-watering pasta dishes.

Korean Cuisine @ Suntec City Foodcourt

Today we are around Suntec City, Carrefour to get some groceries. As it is around lunch time, we decided to stop by at the basement foodcourt which is nearer to Carrefour for a quick bite. After eying around the various food stalls, we settle for the Saba fish meal (鲭鱼) set. Some people also called this Saba Fish, "Mackerel" in English.

Other than the Saba Fish, this set also comes with a small portion of Kimchi, fried spicy Anchovies (ikan bilis) and a bowl of Miso soup(with some Wakame in it).

Bibimbap is a very common and yet popular Korean dish which also refer to as "Mixed Rice". It is usually a bowl of warm white rice top with seasoned vegetables, meat such as beef/chicken, chilli pepper paste(gochujang) and a fried egg. Sometime, they will sprinkler some extra sesame seeds to enhance the fragrance. And the traditional way to eat this dish is to stir all the ingredients together thoroughly before eating.

Overall this stall serves an above average standard of Korean Food which is at a more lower price compare to some Korean Restaurant. So do give this stall a try if you are happen to be in that area :)

Rochor Original Beancurd

I have heard some pros and cons review on this Beancurd stall which is located at 2 Short Street that is somewhere near Peace Centre, along Selegie Road. I guess those of you who frequent that area might have patronize this stall before.

Rochor Original Beancurd - 梧槽豆花油条 owns a two storey shophouse stall near the junction of Short Street and Selegie Road. Due to crowds sometime you might need to sit at the back alleys of shophouses to eat.

Although their beancurd is silky smooth and yummy with no other artificial taste, but we do find it taste rather sweeter compare to it used to be. So maybe for those who with sweet tooth, this will suits their tastebubs better.

While in the store, I was attracted to their snacks more than their Beancurd or Soy Milk. So let's see what I grab from the stall..... I get a box of this Red Bean Paste Crystal Dumpling which is one of my favorite. But this seems to be those franchise from the factory outlet and the skin is a bit hard and chewy. I remember I used to patronize a stall which sell this traditional dumpling around Bugis/Lavender area. But now that stall has closed and no longer there ......

Other than the Red Bean Dumpling, I also grab a box of this Savoury Glutinous Rice sticks. I love the jade green colour of this snack which make it look so appetizing. To us this snack taste sort of like the traditional "Teochew Pink(Png) Kueh - 饭桃 ".

Other than the above, I also grab hold of a Portuguese Egg Tart which I am craving for. And as what I have expected, don't pinch too high hope of this snack which is not freshly made from the oven at the store.....

Tau Sar Piah @ Telok Ayer Street

Here is another post relating to Tau Sar Piah........ This is one of our family favourite Tau Sar Piah stall which is recommended by my lady boss. This shop is located at 86 Telok Ayer Street which is some where near the Central Business District (CBD) region. On the other hand, Tan Hock Seng Cake Shop is very famous and has been around for more than 50 years and most of their customers love the "Ma Ti Su - 马蹄酥" and "Tau Sar Piah - 豆沙饼".

On and off when we pass-by this shop on the way back after meeting with clients, we will always make an effort to stop by and grabbed a few packet each of their signature pastries. And out of all their pastries, these are the 3 types that I will always grab when I patronize their stall. In order to make a different between the Sweet and Savoury Tau Sar Piah, they actually add some white sesame seeds on top of the "Sweet Tau Sar Piah" in order to show the differences. Look at the crispy flaky skin of this little treasure that is filled with generous amount of green bean filling. It has always being our favourite tea-time snacks to be served with a cup of Chinese or English Tea.

Out of the three flavour that I used to purchase, I was always fascinated by their "Savoury Tau Sar Piah". I love the fragrance of the filling which consists a light scent of onion taste that makes the filling so tasty. When you start eating it, you can't seems to stop because the crisp skin goes so well with the savoury filling. Em... maybe to some of you, it taste sort of like the "Penang Tau Sar Peng" from Malaysia.

Lastly, let's look at the main attraction of this shop which is their Signature "Ma Ti Su - 马蹄酥". During lunchtime, you can always see the lrowds queuing to buy these crisp and chewy biscuits. According to the shop owner, this is so popular that each customer is only allowed to buy 3 packets each. The outer skin of this biscuit is indeed very crispy, fragrant and the filling is chewy and yet won't stick so much to your teeth. And this is one of my boy's favourite which he will always asked me to buy if I am around that area.

Ji De Chi

There are all kinds of Hong Kong style dessert stalls around Singapore and just in Chinatown area, there are about 4 or more stalls. Like in People's Park Center, located a corner of the second floor, you will find "Dessert Hut - 甜品小屋" and "Tong Shui - 糖水". Today we are going to take a look at this stall known as "Ji De Chi - 记得吃".

Upon looking at the menu, we actually wanted to try their Durian Bake Puff Roll, but we were informed that it is out of stock. So we settle for this "Mango in Sticky Rice Roll - 芒果糯米卷". We will quite disappointed with the item that is being served, from the photo you can see that the rice roll is so thick and it's kind of hard which is not as good as it look. I am not sure whether does it taste the same in all the 3 outlets or maybe in certain days, it might just taste soft and nice.....Em...maybe have to take a risk to order another time in a different outlet.

Whenever I visit any of these Dessert stalls, there are always two items that I will order, it is either Almond Paste of Mango Pomelo. And I have read from magazine review that there is something special about their "Almond Paste With black Glutinous Rice Ball - 杏仁糊加黑糯米球". Apart from the normal Almond Paste, they actually add a scoop of the Black Glutinous Rice in it to enhance the taste and fragrance.

Here comes my serving on this "Durian with Pomelo Sago - 榴莲飘香". I have being eying the poster of this dessert outside the stall for quite sometime whenever we walk past during lunch hour...... And today, I finally have a chance to try out their signature Durian dessert. It consists of Durian Paste, fresh durian flesh, sago and some fresh pomelo. Em... although the taste was great, but I think I still prefer the Nonya Durian Pengat.

If you are looking for some new desserts to try on or some light tea-time snacks like Yam cake, Rice Dumpling, Chee Cheong Fun and etc. You might like to give one of their 3 outlet a visit when you are free at:- Jurong Point(New Wing), Liang Seah St or Chinatown Point.

Tuck Kee Ipoh Sah Hor Fun Crayfish Hor Fun

Located on the 2nd floor of Hong Lim Food Centre, behind Chinatown Point. There is a Ipoh Hor Fun stall at the end of a left hand corner known as Tuck Kee (Ipoh) Sah Ho Fun (#02-41A). The stall offers a range of combination ingredients from cooked shredded chicken, prawn to crayfish and abalone to go with the Ipoh Hor Fun and it is always packed with lunch crowds during weekday lunch hours.

Red Star Restaurant

"Red Star Restaurant - 红星酒家" located at level 7 of the HBD block in Chin Swee Road. From the official website, you can read about the history of this restaurant which is set up by two chef in around 1974. The operating hours starts from as early as 7am daily which they offer all kinds of hot piping dim sums that are ordered from push trolleys.

Since my in-laws was around Chinatown area doing some shopping, we decided to meet up for dim sum - 点心 lunch since this restaurant is somewhere near my working area. Since lunch hour was pretty rush for me, I didn't really have much time accompany them throughout the whole session. But they will very thoughtful, while waiting for me to arrive, they already ordered some of my favourite dishes to avoid the waiting time.

Although I personally prefer "Siu Mai - 烧卖" more than "Har Gua - 虾饺" but I find that the Har Gua that served here are very fresh, the wheat starch skin that used to wrapped the prawn was thin and the prawn filling it in is crunchy and sweet compare to most of the dim sum stall.

Next comes my favour which is the "Siu Mai - 烧卖", the serving here is just nice for the size as some outlet are serving those extra big size which making it feel so greasy upon eating. The fillings of the siu mai consists of ground pork, shrimp and chinese mushroom that is wrapped with a yellowish skin and there is often an orange dot on the center.

I am not sure what is this dish called, but it is wrapped with ground pork, prawns and chinese chives with a skin that is similar to dumpling skin. The taste was quite ok for me as the chives taste did not actually over powder the rest of the ingredients.

"Century Egg and Pork Porridge - 皮蛋瘦肉粥" is one of the most common Congee that customers will order while having dim sum. Normally, they will also have Chicken/Pork/Fish Congee in the menu, but the most popular orders will still be this century Egg & pork porridge.

"Fung Zhao - 鳳爪" are chicken feet that are being deep fried, boiled, marinated in a black bean sauce and then steamed. This cause the texture to be light and fluffy, while moist and tender on the inner area. When having dim sum with my mum, we will always ordered at least two plates of this because we simply love this dish due to it braising sauce.

"Fried Wontons - 炸馄饨" which is a great finger food to go with some mayonnaise dipping sauce for both adults and kids. This dish has to be served hot while the so that you can take the crispness of the wonton skin and the juicy filling in it.

Lastly, after all the steam and deep-fry food, it time to settle with something sweet to end with the meal. My in-laws are having "Black sesame paste - 芝麻糊" while me and my sis-in-law each grab a bowl of this "Almond Jelly - 杏仁豆腐" with Longan. The taste of this almond jelly is light for those who don't really keen with the Almond taste/fragrance. But to me, I still prefer those with a stronger almond taste flavour.