My family and I were getting a bit tired of queuing up at dim sum places which do not accept reservations, so we thought of coming to Li Bai to try out its dim sum.The tapioca chips given as appetizers were excellent. They were fresh, crispy and not oily at all. Very addictive for snacking on while you wait for your dishes to arrive.Stir fried radish cake with X.O. chilli sauce, $7.20

The stir fried radish cake with X.O. chilli sauce was delicious - we ended up ordering a second plate. Steamed shrimp dumplings with bamboo shoots, $8

The shrimp dumplings (har gao) was not bad, the prawns within were huge and fresh. The skin could be a bit thinner and less sticky though. Also, I did not taste any bamboo shoots within. Perhaps it's just regular shrimp dumplings.Steamed pork ribs with black bean sauce, $4.80

The pork ribs were not tender enough and also did not same to have been marinated well enough too. Steamed chicken feet in special sauce, $4.80

The chicken feet were big and simmered till really soft in a tasty sauce. Steamed rice rolls with char siew, $8

The rice rolls were generally still ok but I think they are not thin enough and more char siew could have been given.Steamed chicken siew mai with fish roe, $7.20

I like the siew mai here, as it's topped with a juicy scallop and black caviar, giving it a different twist. The meat within was also tasty.Deep fried crispy prawn with mango, $6.90

The coating for the crispy prawn with mango was crispy enough and the prawn within succulent. A little bit more mango would be great.

We also ordered quite a few other items (not pictured here) and they were all either ok or above average.

The ambience and service at Li Bai is good. There was a staff who seemed to be a newcomer who did not know what a dim sum menu is...she actually gave us different menus and only got it correct on the third try. She also served us peking duck even though we did not order that - she's kinda blur. Other than that, the other service staff were all good though.

If you do not mind forking out slightly more here for the dim sum, this is a good place for a relaxing family meal.

It was a last-minute decision to have a Mother's day celebration dinner here. Since we have overseas family members here, we decided to bring them here to experience the "revolving restaurant" concept as well. Heh, we have not tried this place ourselves either, though we are aware it has been here for a really long time. When we called to make the booking, we were told it's fully booked but they could still squeeze in a table for us. However, through the night, there were only a few tables occupied in the whole restaurant. Although that probably worked in our favor as the wait staff were particularly attentive and prompt in their service for our table.

We were a group of 8 adults and a child. There was another set menu available for 8 pax, but we decided on the special mother's day set menu for 10 pax $498++ instead as we felt it was more worth it due to the lobster/abalone/sea cucumber offered. Besides, there's also a complimentary bottle of red wine. In the end, we could still finish all our food (my nephew's a big eater too).

The first dish of shredded scallops with fish & egg white was really yummy. Loved the texture and fragrance of this dish which was rather exquisitely done I must say. Plenty of shredded scallops were given - Shredded scallops with fish & egg white

The Fish Maw & Seafood in Thick soup (not pictured) was pretty good as well, with plenty of fish maw and fresh pieces of crab meat within a tasty broth.

I was looking forward to the peking duck here, as I've read that it's one of their signature dishes. Unfortunately, the peking duck was over-roasted resulting in the skin being too dry. I've definitely had much better peking duck elsewhere. A bit of a let-down for this dish.- Peking duck

The deep-fried garoupa had no bones which was really convenient hehe. The fish was lightly fried thus the meat within was still moist and tender with a crispy coating. The accompanying salt & pepper dip did not add much to the taste of the fish. Luckily there was another sweet-and-sour sauce dip as well, which was a much better choice to dip the fish pieces in.- Deep-fried garoupa with salt & pepper

The chili lobster was just like a chili crab dish but the crab replaced with pieces of lobster. The lobster given was plentiful and fresh. One of the nicer dishes as well. If you like, you can order fried mantou for dipping into the sauce - but we felt we had a lot of food already, so we declined the waitress' suggestion.- Chili Lobster

There were 10 pieces of braised abalone which tasted pretty good. BUT the sea cucumber were tasteless! You can tell that it has been poached in water only and definitely not braised together with the abalone. Perhaps the quality of the sea cucumber offered were not of a good quality - which should be able to be braised for a long period of time without disintegrating or becoming soft too fast.- Braised whole abalone with sea cucumber & broccoli

The sauteed noodles were also rather tasteless. In fact, we had to resort to spooning the chili crab sauce over our noodles to make it more palatable.- Sauteed noodle with shredded duck meat

Thankfully, the dessert was good. The souffle egg white balls were fragrant. Even though it's deep fried, it was not very oily. The red bean stuffing inside also had the right level of sweetness to it and was smooth and tasty. - Souffle balls with read bean stuffing

Generally, the food here has its hits and misses. It's more of the experience of the revolving restaurant and the views outside. The building itself is quite old already and the lobby has an "old, musty" smell to it. But once you enter the restaurant, the interior and views outside are still quite fine. Dining here is pretty expensive though. Bill came up to around $620 in the end.- Surroundings outside the restaurant- Part of the interior- Mother's day set menu

Has heard from a few friends that the food here is not bad, hence I decided to try this today with my 2 other foodie buddies. Hehe, they are always supportive and let me choose a wide variety of food for my review - thanks gals! We ordered the quarter roasted chicken and the half pork knuckle from the meals section for sharing. I found it a bit puzzling though that if you choose salad instead of fries as your side, you'll get a choice of 2 different kinds of salads (instead of one, as i was led to believe from the menu description, see photo below) to go with your meal. So...of course I chose the salads for the variety & value and also to er-hmmm be healthier. - The Menu

Now, let's talk about the meats first. - Quarter chicken with potato salad and rocket salad

You get to choose your quarter chicken part - either the drumstick or the breast. I personally prefer the drumstick and hence chose that gladly. The gravy drizzled atop was ok, quite tasty and not too salty. The meat itself was tender and roasted well, although they did not put any special marinade for the meat. Hence, if you like a "cleaner" taste for your chicken, this is pretty good. They probably used fresh chicken as there was no "frozen chicken" taste. Half Pork Knuckle with rice salad & Vietnamese chicken salad

I had some misgivings initially about ordering pork knuckle, as it sounds to be a rather sinful dish. However, I was really surprised that I actually liked the pork knuckle here. The meat inside was rather tender and tasted like ham actually - lightly salted. The knuckle was not fatty and had plenty of lean meat. They could improve on the roasting of the skin on the knuckle though, as it was not crackling crispy and was a bit tough.

Moving on to the sides. There is a choice of 5 different kinds of salads from the salad bar counter. With the exception of coleslaw (which I deemed to be too normal a choice), we managed to try all the salad sides. - Potato salad, Roast tomato & feta rice salad

The potato salad was tossed in a light mayo sauce together with some pine nuts - Pretty good.

As for the roast tomato & feta rice salad, it was horrible. Firstly, they did not give any feta for our serving. Secondly, the rice was very hard and dry, hardly palatable. Seriously regretted choosing this side. - Rocket & corn salad with bacon, coleslaw

The corn and bacon bits mixed into the rocket salad with some vinaigrette dressing gave it a nice lift. However, I tasted quite a few bitter leaves in the salad and couldn't finish it off. - Vietnamese chicken & mint salad (on the right)

The Vietnamese salad had a tangy taste to it - there's probably lime or lemon mixed into it, and gave it a very refreshing taste together with the mint. The chicken pieces inside were alright as well, regular breast meat pieces which were not too tough.

Somewhere in the middle of the restaurant, there's a little counter for you to get your own iced water (with lemon slices added to it) and sauces. Self-service free flow water

Well, generally an ok meal - just be careful with the sides you choose! The quarter chicken cost $11.50 while the half pork knuckle was $18. Receipt - Those working at Biopolis get a 10% discount

If you are a fan of roasted chicken or pork knuckle, you can give this place a try for the meats. There is plenty of both indoor and alfresco seating available and the area is pretty quiet, good for a little gathering.

It was my privilege to be invited for a food tasting session at Pies & Coffee today. Thanks OpenRice!
The place might be a bit hard to find if it's your first time at Rochester Mall, as the layout there is not the usual kind found in shopping malls. The facade is more like many alfresco dining areas surrounded by greenery. It's a nice, quiet place to hang out actually. There's both air-conditioned and alfresco seating seating areas. I was seated outside which is a bit hot on an afternoon, but there's still shelter above you. I'm just naturally "hot" Well, luckily I was provided with a little hand-held paper fan to cool myself with.

We were treated to a choice of a pie & a drink each. I chose the Beef Wagyu cheek pie ($9.90) and the iced mocha ($5.80). A dollop of mashed potato with gravy drizzled atop was presented on the pie, with a side salad of rocket leaves with vinaigrette dressing I believe. Interestingly, there were hints of onion leaves within the potato mash. Perhaps they want to introduce a bit of varying texture to it or to sweeten the taste? The potato mash generally tastes pretty good with the brownish gravy.

As for the pie itself, the crust is just slightly buttery and not too thick, which works out well for me. I loved the tender beef chunks inside the pie, with just a bit of gelatinous tendons inside too. Beef was well marinated and tastes really good!

I am not much of a coffee drinker, hence the choice of a iced mocha. I think there were probably equal parts of coffee and chocolate in the drink. Generally not bad, for it's not too sweet although personally I would have preferred a slightly thicker concoction. By the way, the orange thingy on the cup is just the exterior design of the cup, not that they put anything like that in the drink, haha.

All in all, a pretty good meal I'll say. Might bring back some friends to try the other pies on another day.

I was glad to see that there's a 15% discount coupon offered on openrice for Scrummy. My hubby and his friends frequent this place and highly recommend it. And just nice, I had an opportunity to come down here for lunch with my hubby

We were greeted warmly when we entered the air-conditioned restaurant, which is found in a tranquil part of some HDB blks in Macpherson. The restaurant is rather cosy and there are cute drawings by customers (quite a number drawn by kids I think) plastered on the walls. Mushroom soup - $3.90

The mushroom soup was pretty good, you can taste the fresh and abundant mushrooms used to make the soup. It was not too creamy, thick or salty - the flavour was just nice. The accompanying pieces of freshly toasted bread were also good. Rosey Beef - $9.90

Three juicy BBQ beef (mix of tenderloin & short rib) skewers were served with 2 sides - I chose the fresh salad and pasta.
The beef skewers were lightly salted and marinated with herbs. They were grilled till tender and juicy, and you can savour the taste of beef without it being overwhelmed by heavy seasoning. I loved the piping hot pasta which had generous lashings of herbs, chopped garlic and diced tomatoes. The salad was also very fresh and had a tangy lemon-based dressing which was very appetising.Grilled chicken - $7.50

The chicken chop was tender and covered with a brown sauce which seemed to have a subtle corn taste to it - quite unique and tasty. The mashed potatoes and fresh boiled vegetables were good too.

Prices shown here are nett, there's no service or gst charge. For the quality and freshness of the food offered here, I think the prices are very reasonable and offer value-for-money. I'll definitely wish to visit this place again!