kjcheow's Profile

Paradise Inn is a Chinese restaurant that also serves great tea and desserts, and as they claim, they are combining the concept of Chinese classics, a teahouse and a dessert house together. That basically sums up the variety of good food served here. The ambience is also set in a rather soft mood, with not too bright lights and wooden furniture, all set up like a classic Chinese restaurant, but rather classy at the same time.One of their main signature dishes is their "traditional double-boiled soup". Tried several soups of this category, my favourite is their pepper with pork belly soup, really seemed to be cooked well and not just quickly mixed and warmed up like some Chinese soups you can find elsewhere. A must try if you are looking for traditional Chinese boiled soups.Another favourite dish of mine is the braised vermicelli with pork trotters. As the vermicelli can absorbs gravy very well, its is full of the fragrance and the taste of the pork trotters, but not too salty. The pork trotters are also full with fatty parts which are really fabulous, but for the ultra health conscious people, you may just leave out the fatty parts.They also serve very nice traditional Chinese desserts. My favourite is their black sesame paste. Fully ground black sesame but not too fine and still holds the original fragrance and taste of the sesame seeds. However, I find the price for the food being a bit too high. I guess you have to take in account of the nice ambiance and the setting of the restaurant. Not saying that it is not worth it, but probably will stop you from going really frequently unless you really like it. …Read More

Marche Restaurant really has a rather unique setting in its environment, claiming themselves to be like a Swiss marketplace. There are many "stalls" spread out around the restaurant, and you will have to walk around to see what food there is and order them. You will be given a card when you enter the restaurant, tap it whenever you order food, and only be billed when you are leaving the restaurant by the amount stored in your card.There are a lot of different stalls separated by the different types of food, all of them Western food. One of the most unique dishes that you don't see it commonly served in most Western restaurants in Singapore is the rosti, which is actually just shredded potato pan-fried to stick together like a pancake. Special but the taste is not fantastic, as it is just plain potato, though I must give them credit for using good potatoes, but it is really not as fantastic as it seems.The pizza is plain bad. The crust is thick, and the pizza is cold, ready made and given a slice to you when you order, making the whole thing hard and chewy like a chewing gum. Not recommended at all.Tried several dishes on the grilled section, including lamb rack, steak, and sausage. Not bad, but nothing special about them that you can't find in any regular Western restaurant that serves steak and grilled meat. So it is not bad, worth eating, but not worth going there purposely for it.As for the service, there isn't much service really, as you are expected to collect your own food as your order. Certain dishes that require more cooking time such as the grilled meats, you will have to go back to collect them when they are ready after a while. As such, it is totally self-service.I would also say the price is a bit too high for the taste of the food. I would rather think that the price is not for the food, but for the unique setting and the ambience of the restaurant, so if you are there for the food only, it is not worth it, especially after a while where the sense of curiosity and specialty about the setting wears off.My verdict: Good enough for a try, and to snap some photos at the unique design and the environment, but not so much for the food.…Read More

Skinny Pizza is really for skinny people. No kidding. Why would I say that? Because they feature pizzas so thin that even skinny people can finish a large one by themselves. This isn't an ordinary thin crust pizza we are talking about here. It is really so thin that it is essentially a large crispy cracker with toppings. It is really unlike any other pizza out there, so for that factor alone, I would say that it is worthwhile to at least go for a try.My first time there, I was unsure of what to order, so I simply asked the waiter to recommend what's good or special. In the end I ordered the squid ink pizza (see picture), which is rather unique indeed. The crust is blue-blackish colour because it is squid ink crust, with calamari, prawns and onions as the main toppings. Rather unique really, as the juicy prawns seem to go quite well with the crispy squid ink crust. The price is $12 / $18 for a 8" / 12" pizza.Another thing I tried is their sausage, which is really long and have to be served in a curved shape as shown in my picture. Sadly to sad, besides being long, it isn't really special, just like a normal German bratwurst sausage. So its good but not unique unlike its pizza.One thing that I didn't find satisfying is that the pizza is so thin that it is not filling at all. As conventional wisdom would assume that a 12" pizza is enough for 2 persons, in this case it is violated. My stomach still feels rather empty after eating half a 12" cracker with toppings, if you understand my point. So I would say that it is not really worthwhile for your money if you have to order two pizzas for two persons in this case.It is located at the basement level of Raffles City Shopping Centre, surrounded by many other restaurants. They don't have solid walls or glass panels, so basically it is an open area with barriers around it only, thus when this level is buzzing with crowd as it always does during dinner time or the weekends, it is slightly too noisy to be of my liking.Service is good, and I will give credit to the waiter who was patient, friendly and informative.My verdict: Good and special enough to go try it out once, after that, you can decide for yourself~…Read More

Kuishi-bo is a buffet style restaurant mainly serving Japanese dishes. There is a great variety of food to choose from, that you will probably feel lost and don't know where to start if it is your first time being there.First of all, it is the sushi and the sashimi. Their salmon sashimi is really fresh, and it is one of the dishes that I will keep eating. The sushi is not bad either, but unless you want to stuff your stomach with too much rice, I wouldn't recommend you to eat too much of it. They have a variety of salad and appetisers too, including the japanese baby octopus. Besides the fishes, they also have a lot of raw seafood such as prawns, mussels, crabs, lobsters etc, so it is great for seafood lover!Then there is the cooked food section, which usually includes some fried rice, fried noodles, stir fried vegetables and eggs etc, nothing really special, but mainly our staple food. The fried food section is even better, with tempura prawns, chicken satay, chicken wings, soft shell crab and more, so indulge yourself! Not too oily and the tempura prawns are not too "flourly", and thus remains one of my top favourites as well. Japanese food such as Oden, Chawanmushi, paper steamboat, soba, various soup and porridge are also available.They also have a Teppanyaki section, which will only be made upon order. There are clips on each table with your table number on it, so you just need to bring the clips along when you order, and the food will be served to you when it is ready. Choices are such as salmon, beef, chicken, duck etc. Everything is fabulous!Great variety of desserts, fruits and drinks as well. A lot of cakes, waffles, chocolate fondue, marshmallows will certainly please your sweet tooth. They have many different types of tea and coffee to choose from as well.The price may seem a little high but I would say that it is completely worthwhile for what they offer. For buffet, this is actually very cheap, and the quality of the food is not compromised either. The lunch will be 28.90 on weekdays and 32.90 on weekends, while dinner is 41.90 on weekdays and 45.90 on weekends. The dishes served for lunch and dinner is rather similar, except that the dinner has more seafood and special limited dishes of the day. So for those who will like to try it, you should go for the lunch if the dinner price is too high for you.For those who will like to eat great food at a great price, but do not want to overeat, I would recommend you to choose the 60 minute lunch price, which is just 21.90. You can still eat everything like the normal buffet, just that you have a time limit of 60 minutes. So it is good for working adults with a limited time for lunch break as well. Just remember to watch out for the time!Another thing, remember to make reservations if you plan to go for dinner or on weekends, because it may get very crowded, and you may need to queue for quite a while before getting in. On lunch time, there is less crowd.My verdict: Strongly recommended, a must-try for all Japanese food lover and buffet lover!…Read More

Popeye's claim themselves to be lousiana kitchen, which is new to me because I never even know what lousiana cuisine is it. But besides the name, it is just pretty much like a fast food restaurant.Their signature dish is of course their fried chicken, which is fabulous. The chicken is fresh and juicy, and is not too oily for the health conscious. Another of their signature dish is their "biscuit". This biscuit isn't what the first thing that would come to your mind, it is not like a cookie. Instead it is more like a muffin on the inside but crispy on the outside, which is also slightly like a scone. Goes along well with their jam. A regular two piece chicken meal with a regular side and a biscuit is jusy 7.50.They also offer various snacks and side dishes, such as calamari rings, onion rings, fries, mashed potato, coleslaw etc. Price for a snack bite is 3.90, while the price for a regular/large side is 2.60/3.60. You can choose which side you want to go along with your meal, and my personal favourite is their fries. They call it cajun fries, which actually has a layer of cajun seasoning on top of it, giving it a different taste from ordinary fries. If you are unsure of what cajun seasoning is, you should go and try it!The maxi meal (my picture) is a good deal indeed. It includes one piece chicken, two piece chicken strips, two piece chicken drumlets, one biscuit, a regular side and a regular drink, for only 8.50. It is good in a sense that it has more variety and more filling with just a slightly higher price than the two piece chicken meal.The environment is rather clean and bright, so not much to complain about or ask for in a fast food outlet. Self-service, so not much service provided, but the counter staff is rather efficient and the trays at the empty tables get cleared quite fast too.My verdict: A must-go for fried chicken lovers!!! And try their biscuit too!…Read More

I stumbled upon this restaurant because I saw a deal online that attracted me. This Thai restaurant offers a la carte style buffet or a la carte dining itself, but as the a la carte price is rather high, most would go there for their buffet.The buffet includes a great variety of dishes, including pineapple rice, salad, tom yum, green curry, chicken, fish and vegetables. But there is a huge catch, some of these dishes you can only order once, and that's it. No more, even though it is supposed to be a "buffet".The dishes that are nice are the prawn tom yum soup, the stuffed chicken wing, the satay, the pandan leaf chicken and the fried squid. These dishes also so happened to be the dishes that you can only order once. The dishes that you can really keep on ordering or eating are basically just the chicken tom yum soup, green curry, salad, rice or vegetable dishes. All the nice dishes cannot be ordered twice, so after a while, I found myself having no idea what to eat next, even though I am not full yet. Don't be fooled by my pictures, those dishes are all meant for 6 people, ie. the 6-person portion is just 6 satays, 6 chicken wings, 6 pieces of pandan chicken etc., meaning one each only. The other dishes are not really nice either, and they don't really remind you of thai food. The other meat and vegetable dishes really resemble more of typical Chinese stir fried style, such as stir fried kailan with salted fish, chicken with eggplant, sweet and sour fish etc. So I really doubt the point of going to a Thai "buffet" and keep having some not so fabulous non Thai dishes.I find it quite pointless really, to have an ala carte style buffet but most of your good dishes cannot be ordered second round. Really pointless. Rather frustrating too. I would rather they charge a higher price for their buffet if they are concerned about the cost.They do not have any variety of drinks as well. You can just have ice water or add 2 dollars for free flow of ice lemon tea, which is just normal and not really a Thai drink either.My verdict: Ban! Don't go! Might as well go some place where you pay your money to eat real ala carte dishes or real buffet.…Read More

There are so many different prata shops in Singapore, but they are all seemingly similar. Why? Because they all serve the same prata that taste the same. But The key ingredient that determines a prata to be good or not is the dough, and it is why I find this shop to be particularly different and better than the rest.Their crispy prata is simply fabulous. One will only have to have a bite to truly appreciate the difference between it and other pratas. Their crispy prata has a very different texture that feels layered, which will bring about a different level of crispiness on each layer. Served when hot, one can certainly feel the fragance of the dough and the oil.They provide different typesof curry gravy, which you can ask to change to a different one according to your own preference. Choices are such as fish curry, vegetarian curry and chicken curry.They also have other types of prata, which is of the common variety with other prata shops, such as egg prata, mushroom prata, banana prata etc. You can choose whatever your favourite filling is, as the dough is basically the same, you can still enjoy the nice prata with your favourite filling! But personally I still prefer the plain prata because it is the most crispy, and the taste of the dough is more distinctive. For the drinks wise, they have the usual drinks from a prata shop that you will expect, such as teh tarik and milo dinosaur. My favourite is of course the traditional teh tarik, which goes along well with prata and washes down the oily taste in your mouth afterwards perfectly! The price is very cheap. A plain prata, an egg prata, a teh tarik will cost you about 4 dollars only. A great bargain for such a great taste!This shop opens 24 hours, which is very convenient for an early breakfast or a late night chat. My verdict: MUST go for all prata lover or non-prata lover! You must try it to understand the difference!!…Read More

White Dog Cafe is located at the level 2 of Vivo City, a rather unsuspecting small restaurant from the outside, plain and simple decoration at their small door that you might usually miss it if you just walk pass the whole bunch of restaurants along the row. Inside the restaurant, however, it is rather spacious and it is just the deceiving entrance that makes it look small from the outside. They don't really have a white dog that is alive there, but their decoration and menu design does incorporate some themes of a white dog. Nothing to do with the food though. This restaurant serves mainly Western cuisine with some French, Italian or Japanese influence in their dishes. I've tried their pasta with mussels and their fish and chips. Both taste normal and ok, which is exactly like how you would expect them. Nothing special or no weird twist, which can be considered as a safe restaurant to eat where the food turns out exactly how you expect it to be. Not so much for those who are adventurous. Therefore I would say this restaurant is so so, nothing that makes it stand out among other similar Western cuisine restaurants or any dishes that I would strongly recommend.Their set lunch that I tried is ok, basically it is the main dish that comes along with a soup, some coleslaw and a slice of garlic bread. It allows you to try a bit of everything at a low price, but the portion is too small for my liking, including the main dish. So not recommended for those who like to eat their heart outs.One minor plus point is that since the restaurant is at the level 2 of Vivo city on the side facing sentosa, you can enjoy a little bit of "ocean view" and can see the resorts world quite clearly from the restaurant. Not really an attraction though considering quite a number of Vivo city restaurants in that row have the same view and it is not really that spectacular either.My verdict: Not recommended, small portion, overpriced, not bad taste.…Read More

Fig & Olive is a restaurant serving Mediterranean and European dishes, so most of their dishes will look rather familiar Western cuisine, but not exactly the same. Their wide selection of menu includes various appetizers, steak, lamb, chicken or fish with pasta, sandwich and kebab etc. They also take pride in themselves using olive oil in the preparation of their food and is certified to be a healthy restaurant.I liked the Figo Fish Oglio, which is fried fish fillet served with pasta. The fish is fresh and not too oily, and goes along well with the pasta. Perhaps one of the reasons I liked it is because it is more similar to our regular fish and chips that we know, nothing too special about it. The chicken pesto carbonara is not too bad as well, the portion is rather generous, and the potatoes is great when dipped with the carbonara sauce.I also tried the maghribi chicken with olive rice, which is not really to my liking as I find it to a slightly weird. Just not my cup of tea. It is grilled chicken with Mediterranean style sauce, which is slightly sour and does not taste like your ordinary grilled chicken, so I would only recommend it to those who likes to try new things, but not for those with a traditional grilled chicken in mind when you are ordering it. Currently, they are having a promotion during the afternoons, which is 1 - for - 1 main course, which is a really good deal. Choices you can choose from is the "gourmet galore" section which is actually their main course section. The two pictures I uploaded, "Figo Fish Oglio" and "Chicken Pesto Carbonara" are both from that section, which is quite worthwhile considering it is just about 16++ for 2 dishes.The dinner set however, is not so worth is as it will be 20++ for a set, which includes a main course, a drink and a dessert. Big difference in price if compared with the afternoon 1 - for - 1, so not recommended to go for that.My verdict: Its taste is so so, not fantastic but good enough to try, especially during the promotion hours.…Read More

If you think that vegetarian food must be tasteless and boring, think again. Loving hut serves a great variety of vegetarian food, including Chinese style such as various mock meat, rice and noodles or Malay dishes such as nasi lemak, mee rebus, rendang rice or Western dishes such as pasta and burger. Most of their dishes are made with no garlic or onion, which suits to the needs of vegans following the strictest vegetarian diet. This will be indicated on the menu, as well as whether the dish is spicy or not, thus is a really consumer friendly menu.If you are unsure what to eat, I would recommend you to try their rice set. It comes with a main dish, a side veggie, brown rice and soup. One set is rather filling enough so you can have enough nutrition and variety at one go. They claim their brown rice to be organic, and it is cooked to a level that is just right, not too hard or too soft. My personal favourite is the sambal rice set as the sambal gravy goes very well with the brown rice.Another of my recommendation would be their crispy oyster mushroom. It is basically oyster mushroom battered and fried, but it does not feel very oily and preserves the freshness of the mushroom quite well.The price is quite cheap for a restaurant, a rice set is just around 5.80, which is a true bargain.My verdict: Great choice for vegans/ Health conscious folks/ Wanting to try new things people!! …Read More

Wan Chai Hong Kong Tea Room is always having a long queue during its rush hour, which is totally justifiable. It is simply fabulous.They serve a variety of Hong Kong dishes but I think their items are still their snacks, sides and deserts. The most famous and common item that everyone will order is their fried chicken wings. Might be a little bit oily for some, but it is the juicy, succulent and oily taste that traps the freshness inside, for those who loves fried chicken, I'm sure you can understand what I mean.Personally, I like traditional Chinese desert, and my personal favourite here is the almond and sesame paste. Basically it is a mixture of the two paste which blends incredibly well together, and with a irresistible fragance. For those who do not like the strong smell of almond, then I would recommend the sesame paste instead. Not too fine and not too coarse, just smooth enough to swallow and taste the freshness of the sesame paste.My favourite dish however will still be the pork chop bun (zhu pa bao). It is like the Hong Kong version of pork burger. A slice of fried pork fillet with lettuce, tomatoes and cheese, topped with lightly grilled bun, it is GREAT!! Writing about it now makes me hungry!An only downside is that the restaurant is rather open spaced, without its own walls or glass panels surrounding it. As such, some might dislike the lack of privacy and passer-by looking at you while you are dining.My verdict: A must-go! A must-try!…Read More

Shoukudo Japanese Food Bazaar is located at the basement of the Raffles City Shopping Centre. The theme of this restaurant, as the name suggests, it is a food bazaar style where they have a lot of stalls all around the restaurant, grouped by their different category of food. When you enter the restaurant, each person will be given a card, that will be scanned at each individual stalls that you order your food. Payment will be made when you exit the restaurant.The design of the this restaurant is really fantastic. There is a real size samurai uniform at the entrance. The seating areas are separated into different zones, each with a unique theme, representing modern Japan or some traditional elements incorporated in the designs. Thus if you sit at different areas during your different visits, it may feel different too. The best part of this restaurant is that there is a lot of variety. Basically all types of Japanese food that you can think of is available here. Sushi, sashimi, ramen, tempura, teppanyaki, okonomiyaki, paper steamboat, japanese pizza, pasta, omu rice, curry rice, burger and fries, canned drinks, macha ice cream and deserts etc. I've been there four times and have yet to try a lot of categories.My first recommendation would be their omelette. Made with different fillings such as ham and cheese, topped with mayonaise, it is one to remember and good to compliment your meals.Next will be the grilled section. A lot of differerent skewers to choose from, such as chicken, bacon with bird's egg and unagi.Another recommendation would be their pizza, it is the Japanese thin crust pizza, I especially liked the one with wasabi and seafood on it, gives a very special twist to the otherwise seemingly normal seafood pizza.Ramen is not recommended though. Noodles are not springy enough and the soup does not taste like a lot of effort has been put in.However, the drinks is a bit pricey. An alternative choice to ordering that will be purchasing some meal sets which comes with a free ice lemon tea.My verdict: highly recommended for Japanese food lover who likes variety and Jap-fusion.…Read More

Well, they call themselves the Coffee Club, but as deceiving as the name may be, it is not exactly a coffee shop that you would expect, serving coffee and pastries like the rest of the commercial coffee chain stores. Instead, this franchise is more like a restaurant, with a menu with a variety of main dishes so I will be reviewing some food that I have tried here.First of all, I tried the coffee ribs, which was disappointing. I thought it was a rather intuitive thing to try since it is a rather unique dish, and given its self proclaimed coffee-related name, I would expect something more from it. The meat itself is ok, rather tender, and the portion and sides are fine. But the biggest problem I felt was that the taste of the coffee did not blend in with the taste of the meat, and to make it worse, it didn't match the taste as well. In other words, on the outer layer, you can taste some weird combination of pork and coffee, while on the inner layer, you can have some tender but tasteless pork. Two words for you, not recommended. The grilled fish with salmon mousse though, was a rather surprising dish. It is actually a fillet of fish grilled, but placed on salmon mousse, so it is wet and not dry like most grilled fish you will find elsewhere. The gravy is slightly sour, with lots of tomatoes in it.Finally, the honey glazed chicken is not very sweet as the name suggest, but because of the presence of lime, it has a sweet and sour twist in your mouth. Unfortunately, the portion is too small and I cant seem to derive enough utility from that one small portion of it. So as good as it is, I would not order it again as it is not filling enough for me.…Read More

Well, for a store which includes la mian and xiao long bao in its name, these two dishes are not bad. But thats almost about it.Ordered the soup wantons, which was a real disappointment. I would say the wantons have too much "skin" (dough) and too few meat, so the ratio makes you can feel like you are eating any meat but just the wanton skin. Plus, it is rather tasteless.Ate some stir-fried vegetables, nothing particularly special but is a bit pricey.The crispy noodles are just alright, not fantastic and I would even go as far as suggesting that you might get a better one at your nearby hawker centre stir-fry stall.The only thing I would recommend you to try is the Kou Shui Chicken, which literally means "saliva" chicken in chinese, but I think it is tranlasted as Sichuan spicy chicken on their menu. It is actually a cold dish, so it is rather unique and not common in Singapore. Be warned, it is rather spicy! You can have the Kou Shui Chicken La Mian (dry) as well, a rather different combination from the usual soup based la mian we would be familiar with.The environment is not good and the service is slow. This is because the two-storey restaurant is separated into buffet section (level 2) and ala carte section (level 1). So usually most people go there for the buffet, but the buffet section is too packed, especially at the condiments station where there seems to be a never ending queue. The level 1 is also very crowded so you can hear the next table's customers talking even they are speaking softly. The level 1 is also designed in such a way that if you sit near or in the corner, the waitresses can never see you, and you can only hope that someone else outside waves for the waitress and she can see you after she comes over. So in conclusion it is crowded, noisy and slow.All in all, the crystal jade la mian xiao long bao is nowhere near its counterpart crystal jade kitchen or its competitor ding tai fung. So I guess its ok if you want to eat some xiao long bao, but the rest of their dishes are rather so-so.…Read More

NYDC is really one of my favourite cheese cake place. But besides that, it is also a very good restaurant that you can enjoy good food in several food courses.For appetiser, I would recommend you try the buffalo wings or the portobello mushroom with cheese. The mushrooms are baked with cheese that melts on top which is really juicy and fresh. A great combination.For main course, I would recommend the lamb rack or any baked rice. Personally I felt that their baked rice is better than their baked pasta, as the rice seems to absorb the taste of the gravy and cheese better. The mutton is fresh, young and tender.For the drinks, you can try the famous elephanccino. Its actually a large cup of iced coffee, so if unsure, please order one to share first, or else you will risk not being able to finish your large drink!For the dessert, well, thats the best part. Lots of variety of cheesecake, my personal favourites are the big o and the goldmine. They are both combination of chocolate layers and cheesecake, just that the big o has thicker chocolate and the goldmine comes with oreo crust. I like their cheesecake because it is thick and solid, unlike some that will scatter after a fork's first thrust. A must have!The price is not cheap though, considering that your meal in nydc is never complete without a slice of cheesecake! So it is rather easy to hit $30 if you order a main course + drink + dessert. However I would say it is indeed worthwhile for the taste and dining experience it offers. Go experience it yourself!…Read More