Thai Red Duck Curry

This Thai Red Duck Curry is one of my favourite curry dishes during my 2.5 years in Brisbane. I remembered we used to drive at least 3 hours once a month to and from our home to Chinatown in order to get roast duck to make this dish. And I must admit that duck meat definitely goes well with something sweet and sour like plums sauce so in this case this dish blends well with lychees and pineapples as one of the ingredients.

Paradise Dynasty @ ION Orchard

Located on the top floor of ION Orchard, Paradise Dynasty is the latest addition to the Paradise Group of restaurants by the founder Mr Eldwin Chua. This young entrepreneur is often spotted in the restaurant walking around to make sure that things are going on well in operation. And this restaurant is aiming to sell their signature Xiao Long Bao such as Black Truffle, Foie Gras, Garlic and Cheese pricing between $8.80 and $12.80 for six pieces.

Upon entering the restaurant from the front counter, there is a very unique entrance path that leads you passed their glass view open kitchen into an incredible modern and beautiful dining area with 206 seats. Eating at this restaurant definitely give you a feeling like having a “royalty meal” at the palace especially with the backdrop Qing Dynasty Emperor’s throne.

I was captured by a poster on these colourful Xiao Long Bao (XLB) near the bus-stop outside The Hereen at Somerset some weeks ago. And also with some good recommendation from friends who have tried, we decided to pop by and try out their “Signature Dynasty Xiao Long Bao - 皇朝小笼包” which consists of eight different flavour in a basket. Each flavour is represent by an unique colour such as:-

White: Original taste featuring fresh pork filling in sweet soup broth.

Green: With Ginseng smoothing herbal soup broth with pork filling but too bad the herbal taste is not strong enough for herbs lover like us.

Brown: Foie Gras with a touch of French luxury combine with Chinese delicacy.

Black: Black Truffle stands out with a fantastic aroma soup broth with pork filling which makes us tempted to order another basket full of just black truffle XLB.

Yellow: Cheesy with a hinge of the silkiness of cheese with pork filling which I think is a very interesting combination.

Orange: Crab Roe are finely minced and mixed with the pork filling which bring out the freshness of seafood taste.

Grey: Garlic infused soup broth with pork filling for those garlic lovers, but not me.

Pink: Szechuan flavour consists hint of spiciness when sipping the broth and it gives out a light aroma from the Szechuan peppercorn.

In order to get the correct and finest taste from each Xiao Long Bao, you would have to start from the original flavor, follow by the sequence ending with the strongest taste from the Szechuan Xiao Long Bao.
Price: S$13.80 per basket (8 assorted pieces)

"Pork Dumplings with Chili Sauce - 油抽手" is one of our all time favourite whenever we visit Din Tai Fung or Crystal Jade Kitchen. But today after trying the one served at Paradise Dynasty we declared that they have won our vote for this dish compared to the other two restaurants mentioned above. The Pork Dumplings are indeed more tender and juicy with its filling wrapped by a thinner layer of wrapper which is smooth and soft when bite. The accompany chili sauce is also not too salty or spicy and it goes perfectly with the dumplings.
Price: S$4.80 per plate(6 dumplings)

Mum and I both love this "Scallion Pastry - 葱油饼" which is so crispy on the outer layer and fragrant in its filling with the chopped scallion (spring onion). This is sure to be a great tea-snack if you are looking for some snacks for tea time to accompany with the Xiao Long Bao.

Each mouthful of this you ccould taste the flaky pastry that is well wrapped with generous amount of scallion mixture that makes you crave for more.
Price: S$2.80 per plate (2 pieces)

For those who fancy La Mian, Paradise Dynasty has prepared 18 different types of La Mian freshly made from their open kitchen. Each strand of noodle comes with fine and silky threads that are served with different pairing soups and ingredients. And for your information, their soup broth used ingredients such as pork bones, pork ribs and whole chickens that are simmered over slow fire for at least 12 hours before being served.

Out of so many La Mian in their menu mum chooses this "La Mian in Signature Pork Bone Soup with Pan-fried Chicken Chop - 煎鸡扒拉面" as she preferred something light instead of seafood or beef. Overall their pork bones broth taste just as good compared to the others and their noodle's chef definitely has done a good job in making such tasty and springy noodles to go with the broth. I am sure after this La Mian we would definitely come back to try out more on the other 17 choices soon.
Price: S$9.80 per bowl

After all the savory food that we had now it’s time for some dessert and after looking through their dessert column, I decided to get a bowl of this “Rice Ball Dumplings -酒酿丸子” which I believe not many youngest would order unless they like the taste of rice wine.

This is one of the common Shanghainese sweet desserts where the cooked mini glutinous rice balls are added into the distiller’s grains sweet soup together with fragrance candied osmanthus(桂花). When consumed you would find it a bit sweet and sour due to the distiller’s grains leaving it with a mild alcohol and floral aroma.
Price: S$4.20 per bowl

To avoid long queue and waiting time during weekends, lunch/dinner timing maybe you could call for reservation or try to reach slightly earlier.

Paradise Dynasty
2 Orchard Turn
#04-12A Ion Orchard
Singapore 238801
Telephone: (65) 6509 9118

Opening Hours:
Monday - Friday: 11.00am - 10.00pm
Satursday - Sunday & PH: 10.00am - 10.00pm

Spooky Halloween Trick or Treat

What are you planning on this year Halloween which is just two days away on Sunday, 31 October 2010? This year there are a lot of exciting Halloween activities found in most tourist attractions such as Singapore Night Safari, Sentosa (spooky event) or even some restaurants or pubs are having Halloween parties and special dining menu to brings up the spooky atmosphere.

For this coming Halloween, I would like to share with you our quick and easy "not so" spooky Halloween treat which is the "Pumpkin Soup" and "Spooky Pizza".

Fish & Co. New 4Fs Dining

Recently in September 2010 Fish & Co has launched their new 4Fs in dining which are “Fresh healthy food, Fabulous service, Family-friendly environment and Fun”. And in order to serve healthier food to their customers they also introduce some new dishes prepared by cooking methods such as bake, poach or grill which are approved by the Health Promotion Board’s Healthier Choice.

At our recent visit to their flagship Glass House outlet at Park Mall on the “Halloween Set”(read more HERE), we also tried out one of their new items on the Grilled menu section which we find it rather a good choice from the usual deep-fried stuffs.

To complete the set meal, you can always top up another S$5.50 for an additional soup of the day and complimentary drink or coffee. On that day we are lucky to have our favourite “Clam Chowder” served as the soup of the day. We love the thick and cream soup with chunk of vegetables and lovely seafood taste in it. But we felt a little pity that it would be great if it does serve with some toast which we could dip them with the soup.

For those who frequent Fish & Co I am sure there is definitely one condiment that suits your taste out from the range that they served. For us their Sambal Chili and Tatar Sauce are always the two items that we are to grab for more. Here are some of the condiments that they would usually served:- Tatar Sauce(White), Sambal Chili, Minced Garlic, Sweet Chili Sauce and etc.

We have "Pasta & Shrimp" as starter because we love its light and refreshing taste with a tinge of cold noodle and crunchy bites of shrimps and salad green that are toss with the special dressing and sesame seeds. For your information, this starter is also one of dishes with the Health Promotion Board’s Healthier Choice symbol.

Our family loves fish especially when they are grilled with herbs or spices as this method retains the freshness and sweetness of the fish. And for those who love their fish with a hint of spiciness, I would recommend this New “Grilled Red Fish Fillet with Peri-peri Sauce”. The peri peri sauce used in this dish is not those extreme "spicy” type and I find it blends quiet well with the grilled fish that you could still taste the freshness of the fish.

This set also comes with 2 sides of your choice which you could choose from either mashed potato, mixed vegetable, homemade coleslaw, rice and etc. As for me I find their butter rice goes well with the fish and you can also pair them together with either mixed vegetables or coleslaw to balance the meal.
Price: $15.95 per set (serve with 2 sides of your choice)

As usual after you have made the payment, their friendly staffs would always offer you some mint sweets depending on the number of person. And this is also one of their signature items that even some patrons would love to purchase some extra to bring home. For those who are interested, Fish & Co NEW healthier menu is available at all Fish & Co outlets around Singapore or you could join their exciting Facebook Page for more upcoming contests at this link HERE too.