[Updated] Christmas Wonderland 2015 @ Gardens By The Bay

This Christmas Singapore is holding her second Christmas Wonderland which is an annual yuletide fair with light sculptures and festive market at Gardens By the Bay from 28 November 2015 to 03 January 2016. Visitors will be able to experience "winter" at the new Ice Palace with indoor ice skating rink or making snow angels at the snow playground. Besides chilling up there are also carnival games and rides plus European-style festive market and Spiegeltent festive menu to perk up the festive mood too.

Majestic Bay Seafood Restaurant At Gardens By The Bay

Located below the Flower Dome (gardens by the bay), Majestic Bay Seafood Restaurant is a newest venture for Chef Yong Bing Ngen. The 110 seater restaurant offers a spacious layout for both family and group dining as well as a private room that can occupy up to 14 guests. With it's must try Signature Bay's Kopi Crab and Baked Rice and Assorted Seafood in Chef’s Recipe Sauce, below are some of the dishes that we have tried two weeks ago.

For starter, we get to try 3 selections of Dim Sum items from their menu which are Seared Chilli Crab Meat Bun, Steamed Shanghai Dumpling Pork and Steamed Siew Mai Dumpling. The Chilli Crab Meat Bun was good with a crispy outer skin and nutty flavour from the sesame seeds. When bite, it burst with a spicy sweet chilli crab sauce which makes you having no intention to share the rest of the bun with those sitting at your table.

On the other hand, the Steamed Shanghai Dumpling Pork is surprisingly good with a thin layer of outer skin wrapping the meat filling and tasty soup broth.

Seared Chilli Crab Meat Bun - 辣椒蟹生煎包 (S$4.50 for 3 pcs)

Steamed Shanghai Dumpling Pork - 上海小笼包 (S$4.20 for 3 pcs)

Steamed Siew Mai Dumpling - 香菇蒸烧卖 (S$4.50 for 4 pcs)

Being a Cantonese styled restaurant, Majestic Bay offers quite a range of soup menu from Soup Of The Day - 瓦煲老火汤 (S$18.00 for 2-4 pax, S$27.00 for 5-8 pax) to Chicken soup with cordyceps flower, conpoy and chinese ham or Bird nest with abalone and assorted seafood treasure soup and etc. And as as soup lover, I definitely love their double-boiled soup which was boiled over low heat till thick and flavorsome. 

Steamed, Live Prawns, Minced Garlic - 金银蒜蒸开边生虾 (Market price) uses fresh live prawns that are being shelled and butterfly in order to reduce the cooking time as well as making it easier for guests to enjoy the dish without dirtying the fingers to shell the prawns. Overall the prawns were sweet and fresh but the minced garlic taste was a bit strong towards my liking.

The Bay’s Signature “Kopi” Sauce Live Crab - 冠华咖啡焗肉蟹 (market price) used Sri Lankan Mud Crab which was prepared using 3 different types of coffee beans such as Arabica, Brazilian and White Coffee together with Apple Jam, Butter and Shaoxing wine to achieve a caramelized taste. When the crab was presented on the table,  the serving staff will pour Shaoxing wine and coffee liquor over it and light up the crab to creating a "Fire Crab" effect sending coffee aroma into the air.

But although I am a coffee lover I still prefer salted egg crab as compared to this.

{MUST TRY} Baked Rice, Assorted Seafood, Chef’s Recipe Sauce - 海鲜大烩焗饭 (S$68.00 for 4-6 pax, S$88.00 for 7-12 pax) is definitely the HIT for that night with the 7 of us all agreed and raising our hands crowing it the best dish fellow by their signature Bay's Kopi Sauce Crab.

According to Janice, this dish was inspired by one of the popular Portuguese dish Chef Yong sampled in Macau and he adapted the recipe for local palate. The plate of seafood baked rice was indeed filled with treasures such as baby abalone, scallops, mussels, prawns and etc that topped with spiced cream sauce and generous amount of mozzarella cheese. Overall the dish reminded us of Paella but with a hint of spicy Japanese Curry taste that blend well with the sauce and make the whole dish very addicting.

{MUST TRY} Pan-fried Radish Cake With Prawns and XO Chilli Sauce - 极品酱鲜虾萝卜糕 (S$20.00; S$30.00) was one of the highlight for that night. Although this dish might be pricey as compared to those served in foodcourts or dim sum restaurants but with generous amount of shelled prawns and chunks of homemade radish cake that pair with their in-house XO chilli sauce. I am sure you won't want to give this a miss.

Sweet’s temptation (S$20.00) which suitable for 4 person includes Glutinous Rice Dumpling with Fresh Cream Stuffing; Glutinous Rice Dumpling with Yam Paste Stuffing (coated with shredded coconut); Steamed Custard Bun with Salted Egg Yolk and Bay’s Chinese Pancake with Red Bean Paste.

Although their Salted Egg Custard Bun taste great with soft outer skin and savory filling but my personal preference goes to their Glutinous Rice Dumpling with Yam Paste Stuffing and Bay’s Chinese Pancake with Red Bean Paste. Love the crispy outer skin of the Chinese Pancake which is not too oily and it goes well with the fragrance and smooth red bean paste.

Live Seafood (at market price) available for customers to view and select before cooking.

MAJESTIC BAY SEAFOOD RESTAURANT
18 Marina Gardens Drive
Gardens By The Bay
Flower Dome, #01-10
Singapore 018953
Reservation: (65) 6604 6604
Website: http://majesticbay.sg/

OPERATING HOURS:
Lunch
Monday - Friday: 11:45am - 2:30pm
Saturday, Sunday And PH: 11.30am - 2:30pm

Dinner
5:45pm - 9:30pm


Lastly I would like to thank Majestic Bay and Janice and Sherman from foodnews for the invite tasting.

Gardens by the Bay @ Bay South

Gardens by the Bay((滨海湾花园))is a theme garden which comprises of three distinctive waterfront gardens such as – Bay South, Bay East, and Bay Central. And the first phase of the Gardens, Bay South Garden, was officially opened to public on 29th June 2012.

Last Sunday, we decided to visit join in the crowds and explore the gardens after our Sunday church service. And since this is an impromptus visit, all photos shown here are taken using iPhone so pardon me for the quality of the photos. At the meantime, hope you would enjoy the post and have a rough ideas on what's going on inside the Gardens By The Bay.

Bay South is the largest garden with 54 hectares in area and it is located next to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and a few minutes walk from Bayfront MRT Station.  This vibrant garden showcased the best of tropical horticulture and garden artistry, with a mass display of tropical flowers and iconic structures like the Supertrees, and the two conservatories (Flower Dome and Cloud Forest).

SUPERTREE GROVE AND OCBC SKYWAY

At the Supertree Grove, you can find 12 of these unique trees of up to 16 storeys in height while the the remaining six are placed in clusters of three at the Golden and Silver Gardens.

Ticket to the OCBC Skyway can be purchase near the entrance of the Skyway at the Supertree Grove for S$5.00 per entrance(re-entry is allow within the same day).

While up at the Skyway you a stroll along the 128-metre long walkway that connects the two 25 metre Supertrees at the Supertree Grove and take in a different view of the Gardens.

Bird's eye view of the 2 conservatories and theme gardens from the OCBC Skyway.

View of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel from the OCBC Skyway.

CLOUD FOREST

At another end of the garden, it compressed two different conservatories known as Flower Dome and Cloud Forest each showcasing different types of  forest trees, plants and from the Mediterranean and semi-arid subtropical regions.

The admission fees for both conservatories for Singaporean and PR is S$20.00 (Adult), S$18.00 (Senior citizen, 60 years and above) and S$12.00 (Child, 3 - 12 years old).

More details on the admission pricing and timing can be found HERE.

Enter the Cloud Forest, you see this 35-metre man-made mountain complete with the tallest indoor waterfall where visitors crowding around to get their best shots. The Cloud Forest portrays plant life from about 2,000-metres above sea level at the top of the mountain to around 1,000-metres at the bottom of the ravine.

View of the man-made mountain and walkways of the Cloud Forest from level 1. The structure look like two big ears on a mouse head to us.

Bird's eye view of the Tree Top Walk walkway from level 6 of the Cloud Forest.

Some of the beautiful flowers we spotted along the walkways in the Cloud Forest

View of the Cloud Walk walkway.

Another view of the man-made waterfall from the viewing deck.

Overall view of the man-made mountain from the Tree Top Walk walkway.

Beautiful flower and lake from the Secret Garden at basement level.

FLOWER DOME

The Flower Dome replicates the cool-dry climate of Mediterranean and semi-arid subtropical regions like South Africa and parts of Europe like Spain and Italy. It has a collection of plants from deserts all over the world as well as showcases the adaptations of plants to arid environments. (Flower Dome will be slightly colder than Cloud Forest)

Opening Hour:-

09:00am - 09:00pm (daily) with last admission at 08:30pm

Interesting Cactus that look like monkey tail.

White Crystal Garden

There are about a total of 3,332 glass panels of 42 varying shapes and sizes in the Flower Dome which are designed and equipped with light sensor shadings to ensure that the flowers and plants in the conservatories received maximum light and yet maintaining at temperature within 23°C  -  25°C.

There is a flower field located at the central of the conservatory specially designed to reflect different seasons, festivals and themes. And this 850sq metre flower field can hold up to 18,000 blooms at one time.

Some of the beautiful flowers we saw inside the Flower Dome.

Map extract and credited to Gardens By The Bay website

These are only 3 parts of the Garden attractions that we have explored. We would head back soon to check up more on the Heritage Gardens, Dragonfly Lake, World Of Plants, Dining Options (Pollen, Supertree Dining, Bakerzin, Satay By the Bay) and etc. So do stay tune for Part II of the Gardens update soon.

More photos on Gardens By The Bay related to this post can be found HERE at Cuisine Paradise Facebook Page.