vchiobu's Profile

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 - $3.90The 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 - $9.90Three 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 - $7.50The 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!…Read More

Came here at my friend's suggestion, as he stays around here and frequently buys the pizzas here which he says are good.Rocket saladThe rocket salad was not bad, with shavings of cheese and sundried tomatoes.Garlic breadThe garlic bread here is really special, as it's more like a garlic pizza instead. The crust is thin and crispy, but I think there's not enough garlic. Also, I'll prefer if they used minced garlic. For this version, only some slices of garlic were present, more towards the centre of the bread/pizza crust only.Verdure pizza The verdure pizza had tomato, mozzarella, zucchini, eggplant, capsicum. The vegetables added a nice refreshing contrast to the overall taste. The pizza crust was thin and the tomato base quite tasty. Diavola pizzaIf you are more of a meat-lover, the diavola pizza will be suitable. It has tomato, mozzarella and spicy salami which were given in generous slices and were tasty too.The pizzas here are the Italian kinds with nice, thin pizza crusts. A nice place for gatherings and sharing of good pizzas.…Read More

I came here with 2 of my girlfriends for the second seating at 3 pm. For $45++, you get quite a good selection of items buffet-style and choices of 2 drinks (tea blends or coffees).Generally, the taste of the items here have their hits and misses. As the items are all labelled, you can choose those more suitable to your likings. The items are presented really prettily though. One item that stood out was the braised kurobuta pork which was very tender and tasty. The hazelnut creme brulee was also good as it had just the right amount of sweetness. There was also quite a selection of different cakes which were all quite nice. A word of warning for the soursop lime pudding though - it's extremely sour. I tried the sweet france tea which was soothing and had a tinge of floral scent in the green tea. The alexandria tea had too strong of a mint taste to it, even though in the description the green tea was supposed to be subtly scented with mint.All in all, the food here is generally not bad. At least there were quite a lot of choices available. The ambience was pretty good too, a nice place for a relaxing high tea session.…Read More

This stall has been here for many years, I've had it since I was young. Over the years, it has evolved to include more vegetables, which is a good move. I was happy that the stall owner obliged when I requested for more vegetables and did not charge me extra.The fried kway teow here is cooked with pork lard - which contributes to its fragrance. It's also not too dry and oily. The amount of ingredients is generous too. A satisfying plate of fried kway teow which I'll always order when I'm at this food centre. :)…Read More

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, $7.20The stir fried radish cake with X.O. chilli sauce was delicious - we ended up ordering a second plate. :)Steamed shrimp dumplings with bamboo shoots, $8The 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, $4.80The pork ribs were not tender enough and also did not same to have been marinated well enough too. Steamed chicken feet in special sauce, $4.80The chicken feet were big and simmered till really soft in a tasty sauce. Steamed rice rolls with char siew, $8The 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, $7.20I 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, $6.90The 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.…Read More

I'm a bit disappointed with the rice offered here, as it tastes more like ordinary white rice instead of chicken rice. - Half of a steamed white chickenThe chicken itself was not smooth and tender enough.- Prawn rollsThe prawn rolls were much better, as they were very crispy and the filling was tasty.- Pumpkin prawnsThe pumpkin prawns were also good. They were fried to a nice crisp and coated with a smooth tasty pumpkin sauce. A healthy alternative to salted-egg prawn.- Stir fried baby kai lanThe baby kai lan was average-tasting.Perhaps this stall will fare better as a zi-char stall instead of a chicken rice restaurant......…Read More

- Bak Chor Mee, $4This stall here is open 24-hours and its bak chor mee is quite popular. The bak chor mee here is definitely above-average, although I think it's pricey at $4. The soup that came with the noodles looked as if it was used to cook a lot of minced meat with, so I thought it should taste sweeter. However, it was just salty.The noodles itself were cooked till springy and the flavouring was quite tasty too. Worth a try, especially if you are craving for bak chor mee in the middle of the night.…Read More

I usually eat healthily, but I always give in to the nasi lemak at this stall because it's simply too delicious! If I gotta eat nasi lemak, then it's gotta be from here. There's always a queue, but it moves fast.The rice has just the right amount of coconut milk in it - fragrant and yet not too oily, scrumptious on its own. The chilli is also very nice, with a right balance of spiciness and sweetness. I always finish all the chilli without fail.You must order the fried chicken wing - it's the best I've eaten. The meat is well-marinated, juicy and tender while the coating is crispy and tasty. The long beans are also cooked till just nice. …Read More

My friend told me that this place is quite famous and has rather good roti prata. Thus, we ordered some to share and try. I'm not too happy that the prices were not declared for it's food items. It's self-service so you got to keep a lookout on when your food is ready if there's a long queue.- StorefrontFor the roti john, I feel there was not enough ingredients within and I can only barely taste some tiny chicken pieces. I'll recommend to just skip this dish and concentrate on ordering their roti pratas instead.- Roti JohnThe roti pratas were quite crispy and the curry was tasty too. Generally an above-average roti prata worth trying if you are in the vicinity. - Prata…Read More

Don has quite a few outlets and I wanted to try and see if it really has "the best chicken pie in town" as claimed. The regular chicken pie was out, so I got the black pepper chicken pie instead. The pie is quite big and can be shared by two. There's plenty of ingredients within the pie, but I find the fillings to be too dry. Also, the flavouring of the fillings was quite one-dimensional and monotonous. The crust of the pie is quite thin but then there's hardly any flavour to the crust itself. It's probably not bad in general, but it's definitely not the best chicken pie I've had.- The storefront- Black pepper chicken pie, $5.80…Read More

I've heard that the two chefs outlet at commonwealth is good and that it's always packed. Thus, I was glad to be able to try the two chefs at sin ming here, where it's less crowded.- Butter pork ribs, $8Butter pork ribs is their signature dish, so of course we ordered this to try. The milk-like powder coating the pork ribs was quite tasty and finely spread over the ribs. The dish was not oily even though the ribs were fried. The ribs were quite lean though and could be just a bit more tender. The fried shredded yam was really interesting. It was reminiscent of the fried nian gao (or chinese new year cake), because there's a underlying sweetness on top of the crispy, savoury coating. A highly addictive and recommended dish.- Fried shredded yam, $8The spinach with 3 eggs was quite nice too, with plenty of ingredients given. The stock base could be a bit more tastier, then it'll be really good.- Spinach with 3 eggs, $8The san lau hor fun was delicious too, with plenty of tiny dried shrimp added for ooomph. There was also enough "wok hei" or wok fragrance in the dish. The chef was a tad heavy on the XO sauce though, so it was just a bit salty. Otherwise, a really good dish to try as well.- XO san lau hor fun, $12…Read More

- The stallfront- Wanton noodles, $3As recommended by my friend, I gave the wanton noodles here a try. For $3, the amount of char siew given was plentiful and tasty . If you like your char siew lean, this will definitely suit you. The noodles were cooked till springy and the flavouring was pretty good too. The wanton was also not too small. A good, traditional bowl of wanton noodles …Read More

- The stallfront- Hainanese Curry rice $3.40It is interesting that there are 3 curry rice stalls in this food centre alone. And this stall is the newest opened one. Well, I've yet to try the other 2 stalls but I'm starting with this stall first. The curry sauce was not bad, it's not too spicy and can be easily slurped up with your rice. The curry chicken and long beans were alright. The tofu with minced meat was quite tasty - recommended. The curry rice here is generally ok, but it did not leave much of an impression. …Read More

- The stallfront- $1.40 per popiahThis stall seemed quite popular with the lunch crowd here, so I ordered one popiah to try. The skin was soft, thin and the fillings were tasty too. The proportion of the shredded tapioca, peanuts and lettuce was well-balanced. Definitely a worthy add to your meal since it's healthy and delicious :) The aunty is quite friendly and fast in wrapping the popiah, so you usually will not have to wait too long.…Read More

- Century egg and pork porridge, $3My born-in-Hong Kong friend specially brought me here to try the porridge. According to her, the porridge here is the closest to the ones she has tasted in Hong Kong. She can tell whether the porridge here was cooked according to the traditional method or the "short-cut" method, where people grind or break the rice first, so that the porridge can be cooked softer in a shorter time. She prefers the traditional way (although it takes much longer), as you can still taste each full grain of rice within the porridge.Haha, she told me to specifically tell the uncle (the chef) the order instead of his wife who will only deliver your order to you and collect the money. Apparently they got into some argument before when orders were mixed up, so now the onus is on the uncle to take orders so he cannot blame his wife if anything goes wrong... The porridge was indeed tasty. I found it to be a tad watery, but the amount of ingredients given was plentiful and the pork liver was cooked till just right. While we were tucking into our meal, a stranger next to us, who was also eating the porridge, commented that the stall owner personally goes to the Chinatown market every morning at 4 am to get his daily fresh produce. …Read More