Lunch settled simply at Eat @ Taipei today - the branch at Chinatown Point. I have been to this Taiwanese restaurant at least thrice before - its exterior flanked by colorful neon-lit tiles announcing its presence boldly.The interior is dimly lit but spacious, and the service staff strive to provide amicable service. The food here is not fantastic overall, though there are a couple of items worth a shot or two.I had the Herbal (Dang Gui) Duck Soup Vermicelli (SGD$10.50), more commonly known as "mee sua". The soup looked thick but the taste of the "dang gui" herb was rather weak, or maybe I am used to having the homecooked one thicker / richer in flavor. The duck was rather tender, but disappointingly the "mee sua" literally "bee hoon", coarse and thick.Next, the Coffin Toast (SGD$10.50) with seafood soup - prawns, squids, etc. I'd say that the ingredients were rather generous, and the toast was rather crispy. The creamy soup was light in taste - lacking in the sweetness of the seafood it encompasses, but delightful enough.We shared a Crispy Fried Chicken Chop (SGD$8.90) - that was not crispy or tender at all. Texture and flavor was rather lackluster - to be frank, a piece of $4.90 fried chicken chop from those local Shilin stalls at shopping mall basements taste better.

For full review and more photographs, please feel free to visit:
http://thearcticstar.blogspot.sg/2014/11/lunch-at-eat-taipei-restaurant.html

Legendary Hong Kong is located at the Mongkok district in Jurong Point, where two aisles of shops are furnished to imitate Hong Kong's popular Mongkok streets themselves. The restaurant is long, with storefronts displaying dimsum, roast meat, wanton noodles etc.We ordered a couple of appetisers to share, starting with the Beancurd Skin Shrimps Roll (SGD$4.50) - crispy beancurd skin enclosing bouny, luscious shrimps. It was an appetite whetting dish.The other starter to share was the Rice Roll with BBQ Pork (SGD$5.00) - more often known as "chee cheong fun" - smooth enough paper thin rice skin filled with dices of honey- sweetened barbecued pork.For mains, *Pris had the BBQ Combo Rice (roast duck and roast pork) at SGD$8.80. The portion was huge and filling, and the taste was quite nice with crispy duck skin. It was quite nice but not in-your-face impressive, merely good wholesome HK-style fare.I had the Tossed Wanton Noodle (SGD$7.80) with shrimps wantons instead of minced pork. The noodle was springy in texture, and the wantons were filled with saccharine shrimp. The taste was fairly normal, but I have to mention that the portion and number of shrimp dumplings (6) were very generous.

For full review and more photographs, please feel free to visit:
http://thearcticstar.blogspot.sg/2014/11/lunch-at-legendary-hong-kong-cafe.html

Din Tai Fung - a popular restaurant originated from Taiwan and franchised by Singapore's Breadtalk - needs no introduction at all. The long queue at nearly every outlet explains it all.The mom and I decided to drop by for lunch on this day. We started with a tray of Steamed Pork Dumplings - better known as Xiao Long Baos. This is one of their more popular dishes, and I do concur that it is not bad. The meat was tender and the bun broth that flowed out from the bun when bitten was delicious.Next, we had the Pork Ribs La Mian - cooked in superior broth with succulent, lean meat and bittergourd, a rather tasty homely dish. The noodles were springy in texture as well.The Siew Mai topped with prawns was next- I always had difficulty connecting these to the tradition siew mai we have at Hong Kong style restaurants - these looked more like dumplings to me. The taste was pretty average, nothing spectacular, and the prawns though fresh, lacked their distinctive sweetness.Finally, the one thing I was here for - the Chilli Crab Meat Dumpling (Xiao Long Bao with chilli crab) - something seasonal, something I crave, and love from them. Succulent, juicy and simply scrumptious with a spicy goodness to it, mixed with the sharp sweetness of the crabmeat mixed amidst the minced pork - I could never get enough of this.

For full review, please visit:
http://thearcticstar.blogspot.sg/2014/11/lunch-at-din-tai-fung-chinatown-point.html

*Katherine and I were in the vicinity, and decided to grab something to eat. Unfortunately most of the eateries were packed, so we decided to settle for Italian fare at Trattoria Gallo D'oro. We both ordered the set lunch from the friendly wait staff, and starter of bread with olive oil was served to us while waiting for our food.We started with a Pumpkin Soup (Zuppa) - it came in the form of an orange, translucent broth instead of the cream of pumpkin soup we were expecting at most Italian restaurants. It tasted sweet, and there were pumpkin bits; I had to douse mine with a lot of pepper.I had the Pasta with Clams (Vongole) that was disappointingly bland. Usually vongoles come with a lovely white wine sauce or even if cooked in cream, there would be some taste to it. Unfortunatelyt for this, I just could not detect any flavor so I was chewing on the hard pasta and tasteless clams, adding lots of Tabasco sauce to it for flavor.*Katherine had a Parma Ham Pasta and while this had more flavor to it, paired with rather succulent pieces of ham, she also thought that the pasta was a tad too hard. It was kind of dry as well, without much gravy to it.The last course was Hot Tea, which could not go wrong. It was comforting to have a cup of hot, sweet tea after lunch. The entire set lunch cost around SGD$22.00 each.

We did not enjoy our lunch here at all, and would not be back for more. For full review, please visit: http://thearcticstar.blogspot.sg/2014/11/lunch-at-trattoria-gallo-doro-italian.html

Xin Wang Hong Kong Restaurant Cafe is one of the chains of casual Hong Kong restauurants sprouting up in Singapore serving homely, tasty and affordable meals. I am sure that most of you are no stranger to their Gong Zai Mian (aka instant noodles cooked with ingredients), Chicken Cutlet with Rice, HK-styled French Toast and Papaya Milk Soup etc.

I too, have eaten at different branches of Xin Wang, many times.Today I had the Shrimps Crispy Noodle (Shen Mian) at SGD$12.90h, and was glad to find that it held the very flavor of a good, traditional local Zi-Char style crispy noodle. The ingredients were aplenty - there were at least 4 juicy prawns leaping up from the noodle literaly as I flipped the noodle. The egg-starch gravy was thick mixed nicely, not too gooey. Best of all was the noodle - crispy to its name, till I infused part of it into the gravy.

* Leah had the Bamboo Rice with Chicken - it took them a while to prepare, but the chicken was tender and infused with the tasty soy sauce. The rice somehow tasted more fragrant cooked in this manner.

For drinks, I had the Iced Yuzu Drink; it seems lately I am absolutely mad about yuzu (pomelo), but I just adore the refreshy zesty -sweet combination of this fruit. The citrusy drink perked me up tremendously, and was perfect after my mains. Of course, the real yuzu sacs enhanced the overall texture and flavor greatly.

Well, with affordable, homestyled hearty dishes like these, coupled with large variety of drinks, I am not surprised if we return anytime soon.

for full review, please visit:
http://thearcticstar.blogspot.sg/2014/11/lunch-at-xin-wang-hong-kong-cafe.html