Prima Taste Kitchen At Centrepoint, Ochard

Prima Taste Kitchen is a quick-service restaurant which located in Centrepoint Mall, Orchard. They serves a selection of authentic Singapore favourites such as Bak Kut Teh, Laksa, Hainanese Chicken Rice and Singapore Curry Chicken. The restaurant features a modern ambiance accented and diners can also enjoy 'live' cooking demonstrations through their showcase kitchen.

For beverage we are recommended to try their Calamansi Juice and Lychee Sensation where they used preserved sour plum in the drinks to create a unique flavour. Love their Lychee Sensation which is fizzy 7-up drinks with a few seeds of canned syrup lychee and preserved sour plum.

SIDE ORDER

First to serve is this all-time favourite local snack known as Vegetable Popiah which is richly stuffed with egg slices, turnip, vegetables, shrimp, minced pork, mushroom and etc. The crisp and refreshing sensation of the juicy fillings and intense flavour definitely leaves you longing for more. We simply love the taste of this Popiah as the ingredients are well combined without overpower taste of this dish.

Price: S$4.80 per roll

Rojak is a common local dish/appetiser which could be easily found at most hawker centres or coffee shop stalls. Prima Taste's Rojak is very flavorsome with toasted youtiao, cucumber and fresh fruits without being overpowering by it's prawn paste sauce. On top of the tasty coating sauce, we also love the generous amount of crashed peanut which they used to garish the rojak as it definitely add bonus points to this dish.

Price: S$5.90 per plate

RICE DISHES

Chicken Rice is one of the all-time local favourite which you could have it anytime of the day. I still remember vividly during my 3 years overseas stay I would always bring back at least 1/2 a dozen of these Prima Taste, Hainanese Chicken Rice sauce kit to easy our preparation on this dish.

Here at Prima Taste Kitchen, their poached chicken is very tender and juicy with a thin layer of jelly-like skin which makes you always wanted to top up for extra portion of meat. The chicken rice is very fragrant and the texture of the rice is just cooked to perfection where is it not too hard or soft too. For the chicken rice set, you could choose from either Hainanese Chicken, Soya Chicken and Crispy Chicken.

Price: S$6.50 per plate

The chicken curry for that day was a bit too thick on the gravy which makes it taste a bit powdery rather than those smooth and flowing texture.  Personally this is not my preference of curry but for those who perfect this type of Hainanese style perhaps you could give it a try. This curry set comes with a bowl of steamed rice but you could also request to change it to chicken rice instead.

Price: S$9.40 per bowl

With Prima Taste Bak Kut Teh Sauce Kit you could also cook a pot of this tasty Teochew Style peppery soup at your own convenience at home. And moreover what you required is just minimum fresh ingredients such prime/pork ribs together with their prepacked stock mix. Love the taste of the soup but it would be even better if more peppercorns are added.The texture of the prime ribs are just nice for our liking as it is not over/under cooked.

Price: S$10.70 per bowl

NOODLES

When we first taste the soup broth from this prawn mee we were kind of surprised that these actually was prepared from their Prawn Mee Sauce Kit (detail HERE). From a glance above you could see the decent amount of ingredients such as sliced pork, fresh prawns, bean sprouts, veggies and flat yellow noodles which is pretty reasonable for it's price.

Price: S$6.50 per bowl

Out of all the main dishes that we have tried, their Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle has definitely out shine the rest  of the dishes and won our heart. I love the wok taste and texture of the noodles which is just nicely cooked and fully adsorb the taste from the prawn broth. According to Vangelynn, the chef actually fried individual order plate by plate in order to maintain the standard of this dish. For your information you could use the Prawn Mee Sauce Kit to cook either Prawn Mee Soup or Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle.

And since I am in love with their Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle, I have bought a packet of the Sauce Kit from supermarket which I am going to try cooking it at home soon.

Price: S$6.50 per plate

The gravy of Prima Taste Laksa is smooth and rich which is prepared from its pre-packed laksa spice. In this way you could easily prepared your favourite laksa without much trouble on grinding your own laksa paste and enjoy a bowl of decent laksa anytime of the day.

Price: S$5.50 per bowl

Apart from the above Authentic Laksa Spice Kit, Prima Taste also has another "Singapore Laksa La Mian" which you could easily purchase from their outlet or local supermarkets. You could read more about my review on this product HERE at my recipe blog. 

DESSERTS

Vangelynn mentioned that this Glass Jelly with Longan in Gula Melaka is a new dessert on their menu. And for a light and refreshing dessert with hint of gula melaka syrup to sweeten the taste, I am sure this would come in perfect as dessert after a hearty meal.

Their Chendol dessert consist of rich coconut milk, a worm-like green jelly made from rice flour, red beans and etc served together with shaved ice and fragrance Gula Melaka(palm sugar). Although the taste is great but however we find that the shaved ice was rather rough which could have being better if it is much smoother and fine texture.

Price: S$3.50 per cup

For a lighter and smaller portion of dessert, you could order this Longan with Almond Beancurd. The beancurd is very smooth and silky with hint of almond flavour that does not overpower the taste of the whole dessert.

Price: S$2.90 per bowl

TEA-TIME PROMOTION

If you are looking for some tea-time snack during your festive shopping trip around Orchard area on weekday, perhaps Prima Taste Kitchen tea-time special would have something "local" that you prefer.

For twin sharing you might consider to get their "2 dishes + 1 drink" @ S$4.50 which I think it's just nice to fill up your tummy before the next meal.

SPICE AND SAUCE RACK

Apart from serving array of local dishes at Prima Taste Kitchen, they also have a corner selling different varieties of their cooking sauce ranging from:- Singapore favourites Sauce Kit whereby you could whip up local dishes such as prawn mee, char kway teow, mee sim and etc to Authentic Asian Sauce such as garlic chilli sauce, Sambal Belachan Paste, Premium Black Pepper Sauce and etc to prepare authentic Asian dishes at home.

For your conveniences, you could also order these sauce kits via their website HERE or through any supermarkets in Singapore. And for those regular or big users you might wish to save considerably through their party packs which only available in certain popular products such as Bak Chor Mee and Lor Mee. Cooking instructions can be easily found on the packaging and online plus they also have cooking classes for those who intend to pick up some cooking skill using their ready paste and products. You could register for their Cooking Workshops at a reasonable fees(S$20.00) via their  website HERE.   

PRIMA TASTE KITCHEN

176 Orchard Road
#01-63/64 The Centrepoint Mall
Singapore 238843
Telephone: +65 6887 3786
Website: http://primataste.com.sg/kitchen.aspx
Facebook Page HERE

Lastly I would like to thank Vangelynn and Prima Taste for the invited tasting.

CoCoICHIBANYA Curry House @ 313 Somerset

Located at the Basement of  313@Somerset which is just opposite Cold Storage entrance there is this Japanese curry rice restaurant known as CoCoICHIBANYA Curry House. With over 30 years of experience and more than 1,250 outlets in countries such as Japan, Korea, USA, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand I am sure it will spice up some sparks in our local food trend.

Last week while doing some Christmas shopping around Orchard area, we decided to drop by CoCoICHIBANYA Curry House to have our lunch since I have heard some good reviews on their curry rice.

With 2 Adults and a kid we decided to order two rice dishes plus a mini salad to share among ourselves. Here we have Pork Cutlet Curry With Cheese as mum prefer pork rather than chicken or seafood.

And one good point in CoCoICHIBANYA Curry House, customers get to style their own dish(s) according to individual preference. To begin:-

Step 1: Select the Curry (Main Rice Dish)

Step 2: Select the Quantity of Rice

• 150g (- S$1.00 off)
• 250g (Standard serving)
• 350g ( + S$1.50)
• 450g (+ S$3.00)
• 550g (+ S$4.50) 

Step 3: Spice Adjustment

• Mild (For Children)
• Level 0 (Standard)
• Level 1 (Medium Hot)
• Level 2 (Hot)
• Level 3 (Extra Hot)
• Level 4 (Super Hot)
• Level 5 (Crazy Hot)

Step 4: Select Toppings
Tuna, Corn, Boiled Egg (+ S$1.00)
Cheese, Eggplant, Kimchee, Bacon, Spinach, Tomato, Clam (+ S$2.00)

Since my boy is having parts of his share from this Pork Cutlet Curry With Cheese, we decide to get the "Mild" Curry which is a non-spicy vegetable curry together with a boiled-egg as extra toppings. Although we order the standard(250g) portion but the serving size was just nice even for two sharing.

Overall we find the pork cutlet a bit tough which is toward chewy side but the pipping hot curry and melted cheese makes a perfect pair for this dish. And we also love the crispy crumbed crust which makes the other half of the cutlet.

Price: S$14.00 for standard serving

Before I ordered this, I have read a few good reviews on this "MUST TRY" Creamed Mushroom Omelette Curry. With the fragrant long grains rice wrapped in the soft and perfectly cooked omelette sitting in the pool of pipping hot Curry Sauce(level 1), I am sure no one could resists the temptation of this dish.

For your information these Japanese Curry is sort of peppery hot compared to our local sweating hot curry, and most importantly these curry do not contain any coconut milk.

Price: S$13.00 for standard serving

To go with the meal, we also order a Mini Salad (S$2.00) which comes with some salad greens, sweet corns and cherry tomato together with some thousand island sauce.

So if you want to try some decent Japanese Curry with and custom your preference on your own dish, perhaps you would like to drop by CoCoICHIBANYA Curry House and pick up your choice. Average spending per person including bervage would be around S$20.00.

CoCo ICHIBANYA

313 Orchard Road
#B3-25/27 313 @ Somerset
Telephone: +65 6636 7280

Opening Hours:
10am – 10pm (Mon–Fri), 10am – 11pm (Sat–Sun and PH)

Asia's Dining Destination Package - Behind-the-scenes Kitchen Tour at Waku Ghin, Guy Savoy And Santi

Continue from my previous post on the Asia's Dining Destination (ADD) package, here I am sharing with you one of their main highlight which is the "behind-the-scenes" kitchen tour at the renowned Waku Ghin, Guy Savoy and Santi. These are 3 of the celebrity chef restaurants which serves Japanese, Spanish and French style of fine dining cuisines and desserts.

And apart from the celebrity chef kitchens tour, our group also have a bonus chance on getting to know more about the hotel main kitchen (Heart-of-house tour) which is located at the basement area.

HEART-OF-HOUSE KITCHEN TOUR

On Day 2, after our breakfast we were lead by the Executive Chef of Marina Bay Sands, Chef Christopher to brief us on the work areas and main functions of the hotel kitchen. As photographing is restricted in the main kitchen areas due to security purpose there aren't many photos about this 45 minutes trip.

But during the trip we get to see how food are being prepared in different sections of the kitchen such as in-house bakery to prepare all the daily breads and pastries for most of the hotel cafes and restaurants. Personal lockers and laundry cabinets for those with uniforms as well as shoe shine service provided by their Public Area Department for all Team Members at S$2.00 each.

Guess what we found! A 7-11 store located at the Heart-of-House area in order for the team members to get their snacks or drinks during break-time or at their convenient. And for your information they do have a staff canteen where team members could have their 2 meals per day complimentary by the hotel too.

WAKU GHIN

After lunch, we proceed to the highlight of the day where we are able to have a close-up inside view of the celebrity chef restaurants and their kitchen. First stop we arrived at Waku Ghin which showcases the brilliance of Chef Tetsuya Wakuda in his only establishment outside of his world famous Sydney restaurant. All the work stations were surprisingly clean and sparking in their main kitchen and we also get a chance to see a cooking demonstration by one of their chef at their private dining area. During the cooking demo, the skillful chef prepared some quick and easy braised lobster which taste so juicy, flavorsome and succulent when bite.

The restaurant's dining concept is based on multi-faceted use of space, where diners can move from room to room, luxuriating over the dining experience.  They have Four unique rooms which offers private enclosures for small parties to experience the art of skilled chefs preparing food for each group personally. After meal, diners may move on to the drawing room to relax over desserts and coffee while admiring the view of the Singapore skyline.

The restaurant has two seatings per night at 6.00pm and 8.30pm. For more information you could call +65 6688 8507 or refer to their website HERE.

GUY SAVOY

Next stop, we headed over to Guy Savoy which serves French style of fine dining cuisines and desserts. Selecting only the finest ingredients to prepare and serve with an uncompromising awareness is what makes a dining experience truly exceptional at Guy Savoy.  Here, guests can dine in its modernist dining room or choose to have a pre-dinner aperitif at the champagne bar. They even have a degustation bar menu which is available in the afternoon allowing guests to enjoy wines from every part of France and paired with a tasting portion of the famous Guy Savoy cuisine.

During the kitchen tour, we also get the chance to try their signature"Artichoke and Black Truffle Soup" which serves with toasted mushroom brioche and black truffle butter. Although this is my first time having Artichoke Soup but it's intense flavour and texture definitely has left a deep impression in my memories.  For dessert we get to try the floating island cube serves with earl grey tea chocolate and macrons. I would review more on Guy Savoy "Bites and Bubbles" menu in another post soon.

Guy Savoy is available for bar dining at 3.00pm - 10.45pm while dinner starts from 6.00pm - 10.45pm. As reservations are required, you may call +65 6688 8513 or check up more details at their website HERE. 

SANTI

Our 3rd stop is at SANTI where it combines Mediterranean culture with the authentic taste of the Catalan region in Spain. The cuisine is both basic and sophisticated using seasonal ingredients and meticulous attention to the preparation of the food.

Out of the three restaurants, I prefer the layout and decoration of Santi with cool grey stones and soft white linen which gives me a "at home" kind of cozy feeling upon entering the dining area. During the kitchen tour we are able to see how the savory and pastry chefs are dealing with their dishes plus get to know more on their ingredients used and storage.

To end the kitchen tour we also get to try their signature "Iberic Ham with Tomato Bread Toast" sever with traditional “Gazpazho Andaluz”. Indeed this is a great starter for pre-dinner dish and the Iberic Ham taste great with the tomato bread combi which brings up it unique flavour. (There will a review on SANTI, Tapas menu in the upcoming post soon). 

SANTI is available daily for dinner from 7.00pm - 10.30pm and the tapas bar and lounge is opened from 6.30pm - 11.00pm. For reservations, you can call +65 6688 8501 or check up their website HERE.

SOUVENIR

At the end of the trip we are also given a Souvenir Bag each which contains a complimentary recipe each from the renowned restaurants mentioned above together with Marina Bay Sands Apron and Chef Hat too.

Lastly for more photos of this behind-the-scenes kitchen tour, you could refer to Cuisine Paradise Facebook HERE.

Christmas At IKEA

We are already stepping into December 2011 which bring us less than 23 days to Christmas. So if you are looking for some ideas to decorate your home perhaps you could stop by any of the IKEA outlets(Alexandra or Tampines) just like what we did. I am sure you could definitely grab something which you might need for this coming festive seasons ranging from home furniture, decorations, food and etc.

IKEA RESTAURANT AND CAFE

I saw their Christmas Platter Combo during my last visit to IKEA, Tampines a few week back on their behind-scene tour event. So early this week I bought my boy to IKEA in order to try out their Christmas Platter but sad to say they have run out of the "Pancakes and Swedish sparkling drink". On top of it they replaced the two items with spice muffins and apple juice.

The Christmas Platter consists of Turkey Breast, Turkey Ham and Chicken Cheese Sausage together with some fries and balanced broccoli. Their turkey ham was good and I love the cheese sausage too, but if it comes with some serving sauce the taste will be even better. This whole combo platter set cost S$13.90 or you could just get the Christmas Platter at S$9.00

Although this is my boy 1st time trying IKEA's Kid's Meal, Chicken Nuggets, he actually comments that it taste better than those served in his usual fastfood outlet. And also for the month of November till 24 December 2011, IKEA will also donates €1.00(S$1.75) whenever we purchased any kid's chicken nuggets meal to the UNICEF in order to help more children to have quality education.

To end the meal, we tried their Christmas Log Cake and Almond Cake with chocolate and butterscotch. The Christmas Log Cake comes with either Cappuccino or Latte at S$3.50 per set whereas the Almond Cake is price at S$3.50 per slice. I love the luxury and caramel taste of the almond cake with hint of nuts in it and it goes well with my cup of Cappuccino. 

TABLEWARE AND COOKSHOP

The Tableware and Cookshop area located at Level 3 of IKEA, Tampine has a wide varieties of Christmas design items ranging from plates to cups and bakewares too.

HOME DECORATION

You could also find some REAL Christmas Tree and plants at the Home Decoration area together with some wall ornaments and etc. I am sure there is something that suits your home for this year Christmas.

CHECK OUT

Near the check out area, you could see a lot of new designed soft toys that caters for this coming Christmas Season. Perhaps you could grab one or two of these lovely soft toys as Christmas Present for your love ones or kids and at the same time the IKEA foundation will actually donates €1.00(S$1.75) to help educate kids from UNICEF (The United Nations Children's Fund) too.

IKEA SOFT ICE CREAM

Before going back, we stop by the Swedish Food Market to exchange our token from the Kid's Meal(all kid's meal comes with a free ice cream cone). To get the ice-cream you have to place the cone on the slot in the ice-cream machine before inserting the token. Next press the start button on the machine and within less than a minute you would get your yummy soft serve ice-cream.

For more photos on this photo, you could click on the album via Cuisine Paradise Facebook HERE.

Asia's Dining Destination Package - A Gastronomic Discovery at Marina Bay Sands

Recently Marina Bay Sands(MBS) and United Overseas Bank(UOB) has come out with a epicurean adventures at Asia's Dining Destination(ADD). For a year, this ADD programme comes with a luxurious stay at Club or Suite floor; champagne on arrival, a behind-the-scenes kitchen tour at the renowned SANTI , Guy Savoy and Waku Ghin; as well as breakfasts, cocktails and dinner at the celebrity chef restaurants and other participating outlets.

THE CLUB ROOM

The Club Room is located in Tower 2, on the 35th to 49th floors. It has a room area of 62-square meter space, featuring floor-to-ceiling windows, calming contemporary decor, executive work desk, 42” interactive flat-screen television, iPod docking station, DVD player and Nespresso machine and etc.

On top of the above guests from the Club Room also entitled privileged access — to The Club at Marina Bay Sands which is situated 57 stories above the ground, the famous Sands SkyPark and the Infinity pool. Enjoy complimentary breakfast at The Club at Marina Bay Sands, a beautiful venue that offers airy seating, wide-open city views and attentive service.

Breathtaking view from our hotel room at level 39 which is facing the city view. The room at Tower 2 has a great panoramic view of the city which you could admire at all time of the day.

Beautiful night view of the city from our room.

INFINITY POOL @ SKYPARK

The 150 meter Infinity pool is located at SkyPark which is the world’s longest elevated swimming pool that is 200 meter above ground level. Although the SkyPark is open to the public access via ticket sales (for the Observation Deck) but the use of the pool is only available to hotel guests where they have security guards in between the gate of tower 1 and 3 to check on the flow coming in and out of the pool area.

OBSERVATION DECK @ SKYPARK

With an impressive 12,400 square meters of space that stretching longer than the Eiffel tower laid down, the Sands SkyPark can host up to 3900 people. At the Observation Deck which is located at Tower 3, visitors can feast their eyes on the unforgettable panoramic view of the city landscape (click HERE for the observation view points) as well as a choice to dine-in at Ku De Ta Restaurant.

The Sands SkyPark Public Observation Deck, which is open to members of the public and is a ticketed area, is accessible daily from 9:30am and closes at 10pm (and at 11pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday). For more details on purchasing the ticket(s) you can click HERE.

THE CLUB @ SKYPARK

As The Club Room guests we also get to enjoy complimentary sumptuous Afternoon Tea and refreshing pre-dinner cocktails from The Club located at level 57, Tower 2 . As you can see from the above there is quite a selection of English style tea snacks which is enough to fill your tummy before dinner.

The Club also served American Breakfast from 6.30am till 11.00am daily with wide selection of pastries, harm, cheese, bread, salad and etc. They even have a egg station at the counter to prepare your desire choice of egg dishes. According to the service waitress, if you are an early bird you could even catch beautiful sunrise at about 6.20 - 6.30am in the morning too.

RISE @ LOBBY AREA

For guests who purchase the Asia's Dining Destination package it also includes 2 complimentary breakfasts from either The Club at SkyPark or RISE at lobby area. In this case, guests get to try out two different concept of breakfast and dining experience in two different environment too.

At RISE guest would have more selection of their food  compared to The Club as they usually served international style of buffet items ranging from western pancake, omelette, sausage, salad to Asian dimsum, fried noodles and etc. And there is a also wide selection of pastries and bread plus fresh cut fruits too. But if you prefer more quite environment plus bird eye view of the city landscape from the SkyPark, The Club would be definitely your choice.

THIS ULTIMATE GASTRONOMIC DISCOVERY PACKAGE OFFERS:-

• a 2-night stay in a Club Room or Orchid Suite
• an exclusive behind-the-scenes kitchen tour through a selection of Celebrity Chef restaurants
• a 5-star dinner at the Celebrity Chef Restaurant of your choice
• daily breakfast at either The Club/RISE
• complimentary Afternoon Tea
• complimentary Sunset cocktails at The Club at Marina Bay Sands and more
• complimentary Airport Shuttle Bus on arrival

You can to select a 5-star dinner from one of these restaurants:
~ CUT
~ db Bistro Moderne
~ SANTI (review coming up soon)
~ Guy Savoy (review coming up soon)
~ Osteria Mozza
~ Sky on 57

For more details, pricing and reservation of the Asia's Dining Destination Package, you could refer to Marina Bay Sands official website HERE. Or related photos about this post can be found at Cuisine Paradise Facebook Page HERE.

BEHIND-THE-SCENES KITCHEN TOUR

(Upcoming post)

Behind-the-scenes Kitchen Tour of the Celebrity Chef Restaurants is one of the key focus in the Asia's Dining Destination(ADD) package where the guest(s) has a chance to tour and go behind the kitchen to meet with the chef and get to know the process of food preparation. Although the kitchen tour is only available for SANTI and Guy Savoy from the ADD package,  but we are also glad that we could managed to get into Waku Ghin's kitchen too.

So stay tune for more updates on the Behind-the-scenes Kitchen Tour(updated on 05 Dec 11, HERE) plus review on SANTI and Guy Savoy. Lastly I would like to thank Venetia and Philicia from Marina Bay Sands for the invite to experience this Asia's Dining Destination Package.