Showing posts with label Cuisine ~ Fine Dining. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cuisine ~ Fine Dining. Show all posts

Monday 11 November 2013

[Day 2] Dinner at Walt's Cafe (华特餐厅), Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel

After spending an enjoyable day at Disneyland Theme Park, we head back to Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel to have our dinner at Walt's Cafe (华特餐厅). It is a posh restaurant that furnished in 1950s themed with warm lighting, dark wood floor and furniture that brings you back to Victorian era. And if you prefer to have early dinners with beautiful sunset as backdrop do remember to make your reservation earlier in order to secure a good seat for viewing pleasure.

Monday 30 September 2013

Brasserie Les Saveurs @ The St Regis, Singapore

A few weeks back I was invited by ShiTing (lobsterpaints.com) to join her for a media lunch at Brasserie Les Saveurs which is a signature restaurant of  St Regis, Singapore. The restaurant has recently launched it's latest a la carte menu featuring contemporary French indulges specially hand crafted by Chef de Cuisine, Antonie Bonnet.

Brasserie Les Saveurs @ The St Regis, Singapore
Brasserie Les Saveurs @ The St Regis, Singapore


Wednesday 4 July 2012

Voyager Of The Seas - Royal Caribbean International [Part II - Dining Options]

Onboard dining is not just on food but the ambiance, variety and the flexibility to decide when and what we like is also into consideration. In Voyager Of The Seas, it includes dining from casual to sophisticated, cupcakes to canapes and etc (many of them included in the price of your cruise). And if you prefer soft drinks, wine and etc to go with your meals, you can choose to pair meals with a beverage package and enjoy up to 25% savings on your favorite drinks.

In this Part II of my "Voyager Of The Seas - Royal Caribbean International" post I will be sharing some of the Dining Options we had tried during our trip onboard the Voyager Of The Seas.

Friday 4 February 2011

Reunion Dinner At Peach Garden, 33 OCBC Centre

Last year our combined family reunion dinner was organised by my brother and it was held at "Si Chuan Dou Hua Restaurant - 四川豆花饭庄" at UOB Plaza(post HERE). And this year it will be my cousin's turn to source for the dinner venue as well as selection of menu.

Finally after some research he decided to held the dinner at one of the newest "Peach Garden(桃苑)" outlet at level 33, OCBC centre.

From the photo above, you can glance that our menu for this year is "Chef's Recommendation Lunar New Year Special Set Menu" that consists of 1 Yu Sheng as appetiser, 5 Main Courses and 2 Desserts to cater for 12 Adults.

Upon arriving at the restaurant there is a pool of "Tangerine()" available near the entrance counter for customers to pick up as a symbolise of "Good Luck". Other than tangerines there are also bottles of  Peach Garden homemade special "XO Sauce" on sale for customers to purchase home.

Before dinner starts there are some delicious "Almond Cookies(杏仁饼)" from Peach Garden that is served as snack. And most of us who tried agrees that these cookies do taste light with a hint of delicate Almond flavor that is not too overpowering. Some even believes that Almond cookies symbolise "COINS" which will bring good fortune too.

As usual the 1st dish for any Chinese New Year Menu will be "Yu Sheng(鱼生)" which symbolise good luck, prosperity, promotion and etc. According to the waitress this dish is known as "福星高照" and she will help to add/pour in the ingredients one at time with auspicious greetings used for Chinese New Year before we starts our "Lo Hei(撈起)".

Other than the usual Shark's fins and Abalones, "Roasted Golden Suckling Pig(金陵片披乳猪)" is another popular dish to be included in traditional Chinese New Year Reunion menu which symbolise "Gold and Good Luck". For this dish the crispy skin layers are eaten with either flat bun or thin wrapper together with hoisin sauce.

While the reminding parts of the suckling pig is usual cut into small pieces and braised with "Mei Cai(梅菜)"  or deep-fried with seasoning shown above. Eveyone comments that this is indeed a very delicious dishe as the crispy outer layer is being infuse with a light and tasty salt and pepper seasoning which makes it goes choice to go with either beer or wine.

Next on the list is this "Double-boiled Shark's Fin with Shrimp Dumpling and Mustard Green Soup(亭汤中鲍翅水饺菜胆). To me this soup is nothing really special perhaps just a good soup broth that tops with a small piece of "Sharks Fin" and Shrimp dumpling.

This "Braised 1 Head Whole Abalone with Sea Cucumber and Lettuce(原只1头鲍鱼海参菜)" is one of my aunt's family favourite dish as they loves the texture of Abalones.To us the sea cucumber is nicely cooked with a soft and gluey texture but the abalone was rather a bit bland to taste. Still prefer the braised abalone from Ah-Yat or Owen.

The "Braised Soon Hock with Yam Paste(芋泥焖笋壳鱼)" was rather miserable in appearance and taste. Before this dish is serve I was rather excited to see how the chef will incorporate "Yam Paste" into the dish but when it comes the serving appearance immediately gives it a "F" grade. Perhaps the waitress are pretty busy and they did not even ask us whether to serve the fish in whole or in individual portion. And we can only see a few yam cubes in it rather than what is mentioned as "Yam Paste" so I think there is nothing special about this dish which is just braised fish with yam cubes in sauce.

Last dish is "Saute Live Prawns with Noodles and Homemade Sauce(干爆生虾捞面)" with lots of LEEKS(蒜) that symbolise "money" whereas the noodles in this dish symbolise "longevity in health".

Finally it's Dessert time, as usual there are two different types of dessert in the Chinese New Year menu. The 1st one shown on the photo is "Dried Glutinous Rice Ball(干捞汤圆)" where the black sesame fillings rice ball is coated with grind peanuts.

Second dessert is rather something new apart from those usual mango pomelo or red bean soup. This is known as "Ice Refreshing Pearl Tea(冰凉珍珠茶)" that serves with mini chewy pearls and cold refreshing jelly together with fragrant tea.

Overall this is a great Reunion Dinner where everyone gets together and stay as a family that shares happiness and funtime. And as usual every year after reunion dinner, Uncle James will give each of us an advance ang bao known as "Ya Sui Qian(压岁钱). In the olden days, during Chinese New Year eve the elders will prepared some advance money to be given to the younger generation as this said New Year's money is use to suppress the evil spirit and the junior will have money to spend in peace in coming New Year.



Saturday 18 September 2010

Jia Wei Chinese Restaurant @ Grand Mercure Roxy Singapore

Earlier this week, I was invited to a tasting dinner at Jia Wei Chinese Restaurant together with Maureen from “misstamchiak blog”. This Chinese restaurant is at level 2 of Grand Mercure Hotel which is located in the heart of Katong that is just 15 minutes away from Changi International Airport. Within the hotel itself, there are two restaurants and bars that serves different varieties of food range from fine Chinese cuisines to authentic Singapore's Traditional Buffet dishes and Western delights.

Jia Wei Chinese Restaurant has being operating in Grand Mercure Hotel since December 2007, which will be coming to its 4th years of operation this December. This Chinese restaurant offers an exquisite and oriental fine dining experiences with its fusion Chinese cuisines created by its award-winning Chef, Lee Tuck Seng (李德胜).

Chef Lee brings with him over thirty years of culinary experience culled from his various postings in various renowned hotels and restaurants. His is specialised in Cantonese cuisine where he always continuously refines the art of cooking through improvisation and experimentation. I love what Chef Lee’s has code for his philosophy towards his work; “Put your whole heart in it and your plates will reflect it”.

To start off with the dinner, we each have a bowl of “Hot & Sour Soup” as starter before the main dishes are served. The taste of this soup is just nice for our liking as it is neither too spicy nor sour compare to most of the Szechuan Hot and Sour Soup. According to Chef’s Lee, he actually used “white peppercorns” that makes the taste mild instead of the usual “Szechuan Peppercorns - 花椒 “ which gives a more numb and spicy taste to the soup. And I must agreed this is quite an appetising soup to stir up our appetite for the upcoming dishes.

"Grilled Cod Fish with Chef's Special Sauce" is my favourite pick out of the 5 tasting dishes from the menu. From what Chef Lee has shared, he actually used some salted plum (水梅), tomato sauce, chilli oil and etc to create this sweet sauce which I think it has a quite similar taste towards Teriyaki sauce. With this suace, he used it to brush on the cod fillet before and during the baking process in order to achieve the attractive golden brown colour on the surface of the fish. There are also some side vegetables such as baby corn, mushroom and broccoli that makes a great combination with the drizzle sauce too.

This “Roasted Chicken with Garlic” platter comes with a few pieces of roasted chicken and Mock Goose (素斋鹅 - usually you will find this crispy bits served on top of the vegetarian bee hoon) that tops with some crispy fried minced garlic. The chicken has a very crispy outer skin and surprisingly the meat is still very tender and juicy when bites. If you prefer, you can eat this with their special chilli sauce which I think goes pretty well with the chicken.

For vegetable dish we had this "Stir-fried Scallops with Asparagus" which you can still enjoy the fresh and crunchiness of the thick asparagus slices.

Homemade Fried Mee Sua is also one of my favourite noodle dishes other than Braised Ee Fu noodles. I have tried this similar fried mee sua dish in a few restaurants before and the one served at Jia Wei has definitely more “hidden” ingredients. Bad sad to say, this is not the best fried Mee Sua as compare to what I had eaten before, perhaps too many ingredients adds complexity to the taste of this dish.

Having a cup of this wonderful "Chilled Aloe Vera with Lime Sorbet" is definitely a good choice from the array of desserts on the menu. This dessert consists of 3 different textures such as the Aloe Vera cubes at the bottom of the cup that gives you crunchy bites, middle are some soft and silky jelly follow with a scoop of Lime Sorbet on top. The Lime Sorbet was kind of sour but it actually blends well with the jelly and Aloe Vera, which made this a very refreshing dessert after those dishes.

While chatting with each other during the dinner, I was sharing about my passion towards using Durian as an ingredients in my recipes blog when Jennifer suggest that in this case we must try their special Durian desserts which is available in their Ala Crate Menu known as "Deep-fried Durian Ice-Cream" and "Durian Paste" from Feast @ East Buffet Restaurant that is located at level 3.

This is indeed a special Durian dessert where the Ice Cream is coated with a layer of batter and deep-fried till golden and crispy. This must be done in a skillful way in order to achieve the right crispy texture for the outer wrapper and yet retain the ice cream from melting in the parcel. The ice cream parcel is then served with mango puree sauce together with some pomelo in it which you reminds you of the Mango Pomelo dessert(杨枝甘露). Overall the taste of the mango sauce goes pretty well with the ice cream parcel, but if you don't wish to mix the two flavour, you can mango sauce and just enjoy your durian parcel where the ice cream will starts to ooze out when bite.

The second Durian dessert is specially taken from Feast @ East Buffet Restaurant that is located at level 3 of this hotel. Personally I will still prefer the Deep-fried Durian Ice Cream than this Durian Paste, as I love the bursting layers of flavour from the crispy outer skin, durian and mango puree.

After the dinner, Maureen and I each received a box of complimentary “White Lotus Seeds with Macadamia Nuts” mooncake as mooncake festive season gift from Jennifer, Director of Sales & Marketing department of Grand Mercure Hotel. Other than baked mooncake, this year Jia Wei also came out with a new flavour snowskin mooncake known as “Moonberries”. With its high nutrient contest and antioxidant qualities, this ruby-red juice is the perfect ingredient for a mouth-watering mooncake selection suitable as gifts or personal consumption. If you are interested to get some as gifts, you can refer HERE for more details.

Recently Jia Wei has also launched an Executive Set Menus, which is specially created for busy executives. This Executive Set Menus (refer to their online menu list HERE) contain 4 separate menu sets, each of which boasts a selection of 4 menu choices. The 4 menu sets are rotated on a weekly basis, which mean you could enjoy a different choice from the extensive choices from each menu set.

But if you prefer something more rest and relax, perhaps you can consider their “Yum Char” High Tea that comes with varieties of dim sum, noodles and deserts. This Yum Char High Tea is available from Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11.00am to 5.00pm. Despite on the High Tea time, Dim sum is also available on daily lunch menu. Posted by Picasa

Lastly, I would like to thank Ms Jennifer Narcis of Grand Mercure Hotel, Roxy Singapore and Ms Vanessa Koh of Asia PR Werkz Pte Ltd for hosting this tasting event.


Jia Wei Chinese Restaurant (家味酒家)
Grand Mercure Roxy Singapore
50 East Coast Road
(Opp. Parkway Parade Shopping Centre)
Level 2
Singapore 428769
Telephone: (65)6340 5678
Email: H3610-F01@accor.com
Website: www.grandmercureroxy.com.sg


Operating Hours:
Lunch:
11.30am - 3.00pm (Monday to Saturday)
11.00am - 3.00pm (Sunday and Public Holidays)

Dinner:
6.00pm to 11.00pm (Daily)

Yum Char(High Tea):
11.00am to 5.00pm (Friday, Saturday and Sunday)




Friday 2 July 2010

SKY Dining @ Singapore Flyer

I am sure most of you have heard about Singapore Flyer or even being on board at least once ever since it opened to public on 1st March 2008. Towering at 165 metres tall, Singapore Flyer is the world’s largest Giant Observation Wheel with unique day-to-night panorama of Singapore city and parts of Malaysia and Indonesia at every turn of the wheel.

On Wednesday evening, I was honor to be selected as one of the 5 winners from the OpenRice Singapore TweetUp contest at their facebook and twitter list on #ORTU. From their facebook page(here), you can participate in their weekly contest to be one of the winners to join the team to an exclusive meal with other fellow foodie in Singapore.

While waiting to board the flyer, Fulvia, the host from Singapore Flyer brought us up to the VIP Lounge via the private access lift to a plush atmosphere whereby there is a mini bar and house pour beverages.

We were in the fully setup private dining capsule at around 7.30pm and everyone of us are very excited to begin our dining journey on the Singapore Flyer with the OpenRice Singapore, Editorial team where they actually doing this event Live at the Ustream TV (click HERE).

After seated, we were being served a glass of “Fresh Summer Berries In Ginger Ale” as our Welcome Drink. I love this beverage, which taste light and refreshing which goes well with the starter.

For starter, “Marinated Tuna Seaweed Furuke” will be served. The Ahi tuna in Japanese spices was laced with kumquat pommery dressing and accompanied with olive honey tomato and daikon cress. The honey tomato and daikon cress was very appealing for both sight and taste. Overall, this is a great starter, which is also served together with some baguettes of two different toppings.

After the 1st round of rotation which is about 30 minutes, the capsule will stop at the starting point for the In-flight attendant to prepare serving the main course and getting ready for the 2nd rotation. While waiting for the main course to get ready, most of the participates are eagerly taking the opportunity to snap some photo shots of the food and etc.

The complimentary wine that is served during the meal is known as “Misha's Vineyard - High Note” from The Local Nose Wine company.(click HERE).

Sarah from “The Local Nose” was sharing with us some of the knowledge on select different kinds of wine to go with each type of main course. She also shared with the some notes of the Wine from Misha’s Vineyard.

There are 3 different type of Main Course available for the guest to select from either salmon, chicken or lamb. And my choice of for the Main Course is “Arctic Char Salmon Escalopes”. It consists of two pieces of salmon steak stacked on top of the mashed potatoes patty, asparagus and etc. Beside it, there is a shooter glass with some ginger soya gravy to accompany the dish. Overall the dish taste quite good except I find that the salmon seems to be a bit too try if you don’t dipped it in the ginger soya gravy.

According to the Singapore Flyer Host, Fulvia, not any single one of us has ordered for their “Slow Cooked Spring Chicken Coq Au Vin”. And to our surprised, we have the same number of person choosing Salmon and Lamb dish that makes it a perfect 10.

Stewed Lamb Shank Vindaloo” is simmered with scented Asian spices and served with chef accompaniment. Although it might look spicy due to its presentation but during the meal, those who had this dish don’t seems to have any complaint over it.

An hour or so after the two rotations, every one of us has enjoyed the wonderful night with great food and wine and after which we proceed to the VIP Lounge for our after meal dessert as well as coffee/tea.

The dessert for June/July menu is “Sticky Toffee Pudding” that is with dual sauce such as caramel and crème anglaise. For a dessert lover and baker like me, this is indeed a wonderful treat which is just well balance in taste which is neither too sweet nor too blend. I am sure having this with a cup of coffee/tea together with some great friends is indeed something memorable.

Thank you OpenRice Singapore for organizing this wonderful event, Singapore Flyer for their great food and excellent services as well The Local Nose for their complimentary of “Misha’s Vineyard - High Note” wine tasting. For information of the Singapore Flyer Full Butler Sky Dining can be found HERE.




P/s: More photos @ Cuisine Paradise Facebook Fan Page (Here)

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