Reunion Dinner @ Si Chuan Dou Hua UOB Plaza

This year is my brother's turn to arrange the venue and crack his head on which menu to select for our 10 persons Chinese New Reunion Dinner gathering. So without hesitation, he selected one of his favourite hangout @ " Tian Fu Teahouse - 天府茶艺馆" which is one of the tea house concept by "Si Chuan Dou Hua Restaurant - 四川豆花饭庄" which is located at the UOB Plaza 1, level #60-01.

For reunion dinner, this restaurant offer similar timing like most others do which you can select either the earlier timing which will ends around 8pm or later slot which start serving at around 8.30pm. Upon seated, we are being served with a cup of traditional "Long Jing Tea - 龙井茶" that is prepared with exact measurement of tea leaves and served in an amazing way by the Tea Master. Other than their special tea, you must also try their very own appetiser, "Si Chuan Pickles - 四川榨酱菜 " which is crunch and tasty.

Our today's menu will be the "Prosperity Set - 大展鸿图" that serves with 7 dishes and 2 desserts. After about 10 minutes of waiting, the 1st dish of the night, "Ikan Parang Yu Sheng with Golden Fish Crisps" arrived. According to the waitress, this is known also as "风生水起" where she will help to add/pour in the ingredients one at time with auspicious greetings used for Chinese New Year. When she has finished the process, it is our turn to use the chopsticks to stir the ingredients together and lift it up as high as possible to represent good luck, prosperity, promotion and etc.

For your information, there is a plate of "Deep-fried Salmon Skin" which is prepared by the restaurant for this Yusheng dish.

Another 10 minutes or so our "Braised Shark's Fin Soup with Crabmeat - 双喜展亦翅" came. Most of us was quite disappointed with this dish because we find it too starchy which we think it look and tasty like those sticky dessert rather than shark's fin soup. Moreover, I don't even seen any crabmeat which mentioned is most of the bowls, but rather we found a lot of chicken cubes in it.

While waiting for the chef to sliced off the crispy outer skin of the "Bei Jing Roasted Duck - 北京脆皮烤鸭" and the preparation of the pancake parcel, our "Stir-Fried Prawns with French Beans in Garlic & Chilli - 欢乐满华堂" was served. The prawn balls are very fresh and crunch and it goes well with the chilli sauce which we find it similar to chilli crab sauce.

But I was rather attracted to the chef and waitress who is busying slicing the roasted duck and rolling the pancake parcel. My brother loves their Bei Jing Roasted Duck and he ordered this for an extra bonus dish for us to try. We were all amazed by the chef skill in slicing the duck which is still piping hot with smoke filling in the air. The pancake still is kept warm in a bamboo steamer which two tone of colour which is jade green and white. The waitress quickly spread a layer of sweet bean sauce(hoisin sauce) then top with generous amount of crispy duck then wrapped it into a pocket parcel.

The remaining parts of the duck will be made into a second dish called "San Choi Bao - 生菜包" where they cut the duck meat into small cubes and stir-fry it with spices, spring onion, white onion and etc. This dish is served together with a plate of "Iceberg Lettuce - 生菜" leaves that are used to wrap the duck meat mixture and eat it as a finger food.

Next dish on the list is "Pan-fried Pomfret in Soya Sauce - 年年添有余". This can be consider as a normal classic homecook fish dish that can be found is most family. I remember, my late dad used to cook this dish for us at least once a week. I love the outer crispy texture of the fish that goes well with taste of soya sauce base.

"Braised Pork Knuckles with Dried Oyster & Sea Moss - 发财就好市" is the 5 dish on the menu list. According to the myth of most Chinese, they believed that dried oyster sounded like "好事 - good deeds" whereas moss sounded like "发财 - get rich" in Mandarin so when these two ingredients put together with pork kunckles it became another auspicious name such as "横财就手". I love this dish, because I love Pork Knuckles that is braised in such method where the meat and fat are so soft and smooth like jelly texture.

Eat out during holiday season like Christmas or Chinese New Year can be a great problem because due to large crowds they might be a longer waiting time interval before each dish is being served. It's already 10.30pm and we still have another 2 more dishes and 2 dessert to go. And because of the late dinner and waiting time, by the time they served this special and attractive "Crispy Roast Chicken - 金风报佳音" we were almost too full and tired to try. Most of us love the toasted almond flakes topping which bring extra fragrance to this dish.

Now we reach the last dish which is "Glutinous Rice with Waxed Meat wrapped in Lotus Leaf - 五谷贺丰年". At first, mum suggested that perhaps we shall ask the waitress to help us pack-up this dish and served the desserts instead because everyone of us are too full to eat any rice dish. But after seeing the actual portion, uncle James feel that it is alright for us to take a small portion after divided into 10 serving. Although we are all very full, but we must admit that this dish is indeed very nice, fragrance and most of all not greasy.

Finally! Here comes our desserts of the night. I have being waiting for these two dessert before even the main course is up. First to come is their "Homemade Beancurd with Red Bean - 红豆豆花". The sweet and aroma of the cooked red beans goes very well with their homemade silky beancurd. Even though I am very full after eating the above dishes, but I don't mind having a second share of the extra bowl of beancurd :p


My excitement of tonight focus on this special "Steamed Layer New Year Cake with Egg Custard - 千层煎年糕 " which I am able to it from the restaurant "Imperial High Tea - 宫廷下午茶 " dim sum which is being feature on TV entertainment programme, "NEW CITY BEAT - 城人新杂志". These new year cakes are being served on a cute little bamboo hanger in the bamboo steamer. Each cake comes in about 8 layers in a mixture of Nian Gao, Egg Custard and the white portion seems like bread/cake/or something like rice flour texture...... Overall it's a very delighted sweet dessert for both Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day.

Overall everyone of us are very satisfied with today's menu and each of us have our own preference on each dishes...... And I am looking forward to try their limited period promotion on the "Imperial High Tea" which is till 28 February 2010. If you are interested in the unique Imperial Dim Sum that serves with good grade of tea by the tea master, perhaps you can consider this offer at either UOB Plaza 1 or Park Royal Hotel(Beach Road).

Streets Cafe Restaurant @ IMM

Streets Café Restaurant - 街头茶餐厅 has a few branches located in different area of Singapore. Eg, IMM Jurong, Bukit Panjang Plaza, City Square Mall and etc. As we are going to IMM to grab some stuffs and it's around lunch time, we decided to get our lunch in this Hong Kong style cafe.

Although this is not my first time patronise a Hong Kong Style cafe, but it is rather my first time visiting this Streets Cafe. There are not many tables being occupied despite of nearly to lunch hours. After scanning through the menu, we settle for the following drinks and main dish. Their Ice Milk Tea is serve using a very special cup which look sort of like a jar but with handler. But the taste of the milk tea is kind of average which compare to even our local coffee shop standard milk tea.

I love the combination of Mango and Pomelo, so while looking at the drinks column, my attention was being caught with this "Ice Blended Mango Pomelo". Before this drink is being served, I actually think of it to be serve on a bowl with shaved ice and mango puree which sort of like our local dessert, "Ice Ka Chang". But when the drink is served, I was totally amazed by it's attractive and colourful combination. This is indeed another great way to try this famous Hong Kong dessert.

Their "Beef Hor Fun with Gravy" comes in a big serving plate with everything mixed together. So on the glance of it, you might feel "Errrrrrr" what is this? Or maybe I can put it as the presentation of the dish is not very good, the look of it makes the dish look like a plate of mixed vegetable dish rather than Stir-fry Beef Hor Fun....... But thankfully, the taste is still good and the beef are still tender to taste.

The Ying Yang Baked Rice came with 2 sauces which is the white sauce and tomato sauce. The sauce split right in the middle and topped with generous amount of Mozzarella Cheese. The texture of the rice was just nice, but we think the taste of the sauce can be improve much better.

Din Tai Fung

A few months back I have shared a "Blog Post" on some of the dishes from "Din Tai Fung - 鼎泰丰" that we have tried. Today we shall continue with some other new dishes that you might be interested with.

For the appetiser, we start off with our all time favour which is the "Steamed Dumplings - 小笼包" whereby you will find exactly 18 folds on each dumpling which marks a distinguishing feature of Din Tai Fung's dumplings.

Mum loves this spicy " Hong You Chao Shou - 红油抄手" which are cooked dumpling served in chilli oil and vinegar. The dumplings filling are always very fresh and it taste great with that chilli oil dipping sauce which act as a very good appetising dish.

This is my 1st time trying their " Zha Jiang Mian - 炸酱面" which is "La Mian - 拉面" topped with spicy minced pork, tofu and beans. Overall we are quiet satisfy with the texture of the noodles which is bouncy when eaten and combines well with the sauce ingredients too.

Since last visit we have tried their "Pork Chop Fried Rice - 排骨蛋飯" which we all loves, this round we shall give their "Fried Pork Chop Noodles Soup - 排骨面" a go. Although the present of the dish might not look good as it seems to have too much soup covering the noodles and pork chop but basically it still taste great.

Finally to wrapped up today's dinner, we ordered their sweet dumplings that consists our favourite yam paste. But unfortunately this "Yam Paste Dumplings - 芋泥小包" is not really up to our standard. As you can still see that the top peak of the skin seems to be too thick which cost is to be hard or undercooked when served.

Dian Xiao Er @ AMK Hub

Dian Xiao Er has about 9 branches located through out all parts of Singapore Major Shopping Mall. From the name "Dian Xiao Er - 店小二", you will know that this is a Traditional Chinese Food restaurants that serves Asian delights. Today, we will share with you two of their signature dish at one of their branch at Ang Mo Kio Hub.

When you ask around about this place, most of the customers will relate the restaurant as an ancient China teahouse. This is because almost all their furniture and layout are made of wood. As you can see, they even have their own unique menu book that look like those "Secret Manual Menu".

From the list of items in the menu, we select this Dang Gui Roasted Duck, the flavour of the herbs is pleasant and not overpowering for those who don't take Chinese herbs. According to their write-up, duck meat has a nutritional that surprises most people. Lean Duck has 25% more protein than other poultry, high in vitamin B and Vitamin E. Mum was surprised to find the gravy in this dish as she comments that the gravy will actually soften the crispness of the roast duck skin. But after all, if you order rice and other side dishes, this herbal gravy goes well with rice.

Actually my aim was to try out their new dish "Claypot Bee Hoon With Chinese Wine". I was attracted by the advertisement and write-up shown outside the restaurant as so compare to the usual Vermicelli Crab/Been Hoon Crab, this dish actually use Frog legs and River King Prawns to enhance the sweetness and flavour of this dish. According to the description, they also add in some top grade rice wine to obtain a flavourful golden broth. Overall, the flavour of the broth was great as you can taste the light and fragrant sweetness from the prawn and rice wine.

But when it comes to dessert time, we are a bit of disappointed with the choice that we ordered. We have this "Double-boiled Ginseng Hashima" which is serve in a normal plastic bowl which I thought was a wrong order. It was kind of diluted and with some Hashima(or maybe mashed jelly), two slices of ginseng and 1 red date which cost S$5+. I guess this is not a suitable place for after meal dessert............ :p

Prosperous Kitchen @ Sembawang Shopping Centre

Singapore Shopping Center has being located in Sembawang Road area among the Semi-detached estate for more than 10 years. I still remember vividly that I used to go there with my secondary school mate to enjoy the BBQ stingray, pizza hut pizza and the famous Thai Food stall. But today, after the 2nd major renovation, Singapore Shopping Center has changed most of its' previous shop/restaurant.

Today we are going to try this Chinese cuisine restaurant located at the second floor known as "Prosperous Kitchen - 天旺". They have mainly two restaurants in Singapore which another branch located at West Coast Plaza.

To start off, we order a bowl of their "Brazil Mushroom Chicken Soup" which served in small individual box @ S$5.00 each bowl. The taste of the soup is light, non-greasy and most important is full of flavour that is infused from the Brazil Mushroom. Next we have "Yang Chow Fried Rice", the rice is very fragrant and each grain is nicely fried and separated from each other. Although the price is slightly higher than normal "Zhi Char - 煮炒" stall, I guess it's still worth the price for the taste and its generous ingredients.

Em... honestly, we are very shock and a kind of disappointed with this "Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs - 京都排骨". First of all, we waited for about 20 minutes due to the dinner crowds, secondly when this dish arrived we thought the waitress might have bring the wrong dish as this look more like "Pai Gu Wang - 排骨王" to us rather than the one we saw and ordered from the menu. The one we ordered, is sort of like pork ribs, darker in colour for the sauce and there are also some extra almond/sesame seeds with it. So compare this to the one we saw it's really a big different.

From the myth, they used to say that the main ingredients to make this "3 Cups Chicken - 三杯鸡" is 1 cup each of Dark Soy Sauce, Sesame Oil and Rice Wine. This is rather a traditional Taiwanese dish but you can easily find this in most Chinese restaurants or Zhi Char stall in Singapore. While looking around the tables, it seems that about 6/10 tables around us ordered this dish. It is serve in a small claypot and you can smell the nice sesame oil aroma when the dish arrived at the table. Overall we find this is the best dish to recommend out of all we have ordered. The combination of the chicken, sauce and side ingredients like chilli, spring onion and etc plays a great part for this dish.

Next we have this "Scramble Egg & Prawns Hor Fun - 鲜虾滑蛋河粉" which comes with a serving of about 6 - 8 medium size prawns cooked in scramble egg sauce together with straw mushroom and thin flat rice noodles. This is a one person serving portion which cost S$7.50. I guess for prawn and rice noodles loves, this is sure a great deal to order. I personally love the combination of the egg sauce with the fried rice noodles.

Lastly comes our dessert of the day which is my favourite, "Mango Pomelo Cream - 杨枝甘露". This is kind of different from the usual mango pomelo with shaved ice. As you can see from the photo, this is sort of like a blended mango juice that is mixed with some cream/milk then served with some extra mango cubes and pomelo. Not a good choice you are looking for that kind of Hong Kong style Mango Pomelo with sago.

For your information, exclusively for UOB Credit Card Members, they are having a great deal promotion as follows:-

1) 50% off* à la carte food menu
Valid from 1 Oct to 30 Nov 2009

2) 1-for-1+ Set Menu lunch and dinner
Valid from 1 Oct to 30 Nov 2009

3) 15% off^ total food bill on à la carte menu
Valid from 1 Oct 2009 to 30 Jun 2010

Note:-
~ Except Beverages, Desserts, Dim Sum delicacies and Set Menu. 50% off is only applicable from 6pm to closing from Mondays to Fridays, not applicable on weekend and Eve of Public Holidays and Public Holidays.

Din Tai Fung - 小笼包

Din Tai Fung(鼎泰豐) starts with a small shop, located on the intersection of Xinyi Road, in Taipei City. It has become a symbol of Chinese delicacies with its "Steamed Dumplings - 小笼包". This small shop has venture out into international market where they have many branches in countries such as Taiwan, Japan, USA, China, Singapore, Korea and etc.

Din Tai Fung(鼎泰豐) has about 5 branches in Singapore located at Paragon Orchard, Bishan Junction 8, Tampines Mall, Wisma Atria Orchard and Raffles City. They have a many varieties of Steamed Dumplings varies from Savory to Sweet. Other than steamed dumplings, they also have a few choices of La Mian.

My mum and aunt love to order this "Appetiser - 小菜" which is on a mixture of seaweed, tofu, bean sprout, chilli etc whenever they visit Din Tai Fung. They always kick off with this signature appetiser before starting their main course.

This is one of our favorite dish called "Pork Chop Fried Rice - 排骨蛋飯". I love the way they seasoned the pork chop which the spices and the combination of the pork chop goes well with their fragrance egg fried rice.

First time ordering this "Glass noodle soup with fried bean curd and pork rolls - 油豆腐粉" which is one of their recommendation dish on the menu. The soup base is great and overall this dish is light and healthy with their self-made Pork Rolls. But if you do not fancy "Glass noodle - 冬粉" then don't expect too much from this dish.

The distinguishing feature of Din Tai Fung's dumplings is that the chefs would make 18 folds to seal the dumplings. I love dumplings especially the "Steamed Dumplings - 小笼包" which I will use the chopsticks to poke a little hole in the skin of the dumpling to let the soup flow out onto the spoon and sip the soup. Then I will add some julienned ginger (soaked in black vinegar) on top of the dumpling before eating it.

Other than their signature "Steamed Dumplings - 小笼包", we also ordered their special promotion "Steamed Chili Crab Dumplings" which is one of the Food Festival Award dish. Although the dumplings that serves on us is not what we expected it to be, it still have it's unique taste. The combination of chilli crab gravy with the soup base of the usual steam dumplings makes this festival dumpling a special dish to venture on.