Tea Lounge at the Regent Singapore serves an eclectic mix of food – English, European, Japanese and Singaporean local delights. The variety of food is pretty decent for afternoon tea. At S$52++ per person for weekend high tea, your tummy will be thoroughly spoilt for sure.

As Tea Lounge only serves high tea buffet on weekends, be prepared to make an advanced reservation of at least one month ahead.The open-concept lounge is located at the lobby level of the hotel. The bookshelves filled with literature and art pieces make this feel like a cosy living room. The wooden furnishings and warm lighting exude an old English vintage grandeur. Certainly a lovely setting for relaxing over tea with family and friends.

The high tea buffet includes free flow serving of freshly brewed coffee, fine tea selections and hot/cold chocolate.Tea Lounge is famous for its English scones and clotted cream but I beg to differ. I have rather high expectations for scones after having tasted really good ones in England so unfortunately, these scones have not quite made their mark for being fluffy and moist inside. And their clotted cream is also no where near Rodda’s which is commonly sold in UK. But if I were to compare with other scones I have had in Singapore, these would probably be the best among all. Well, at least they know how to pair them with clotted cream and jam!

Anyway, despite the scones being unexciting which is not a big loss to me, I’m thrilled with what the rest of the buffet has to offer. Savoury sandwiches, refreshing appetisers & salads, caviar, delicious pate, smoked salmon & sushi, carving station, Asian corner, quiche & pot pie, cheese board, huge array of lovely desserts, gelato & freshly made crepes & waffles and dainty cookies. Did I miss out any? There’s just so much food, I don’t think I even manage to try every single bit of them!Some notable items that I went back for seconds and thirds include the seafood salad with the freshiest scallops and crunchiest prawns ever, the ‘unsightly yet most delightful’ duck rilette with melba toast and the always-popular smoked salmon. Simply scrumptious!

The Avruga caviar looks luxurious but it’s not really my cup of tea. Except for being salty, salty and just salty if you just eat it on its own, there’s really no other flavours to boast of. Neither does it enhance any other dishes because it just leaves you a briny aftertaste on the tongue. It’s probably an acquired taste. Either you love it, or you hate it.

The cheese board is worth mentioning. The Wensleydale cheese with cranberries rocks. I don’t really like strong cheeses so this is a real delight for me with a mildly sweet taste from the cranberries. The smoked cheddar is quite a hit too.

To continue reading, please visit http://springtomorrow.com/2013/08/26/weekend-high-tea-buffet-tea-lounge-regent-hotel/

Agreed my friend’s decision, I joined the short queue at PappaRich for our lunch. Very budgeted way to spend here, the concept was quite similar with Oldtown Coffee. Selling Malaysian Cuisine basically, Menu was extensive.Nice presentation, it looked neat and tempting. My favourite thickly spicy-gravy chicken, the flesh was tender without being overcooked. Rice wise, it was too mushy for me yet with nicely coconut milk fragrance. Hard-boiled egg accompanied along, cucumber slices and some fried peanuts, the portion was definitely more than enough. Common sense, all their items are subject to 10% service charges and 7% GST.

When I was working at Raffles Place before, Yomenya Goemon at Marina Bay Link Mall was one of my favourite places to have lunch. Since a colleague greatly recommended me this place, it has become the only spaghetti house I go to now whenever I need a pasta fix.

Yomenya Goemon opened its doors in Shibuya, Japan in the 70s and is one of the top spaghetti houses in Japan today. The secret to their success probably lies in their ingredients which they claim to be imported from Italy so customers get to taste authentic Italian cuisine with a East-meets-West (or Japan-meets-Italy) fusion twist. The end result? Tasty plates of spaghetti with unforgettable sauces and the freshest ingredients ever.

I have eaten at Yomenya Goemon countless times and their quality has been consistent so far which is truly commendable.If you pick their Regular, Large or Dessert set meals, you can help yourself to the salad bar. Basically, the service staff will just hand you a bowl and you can just fill with whatever you want from what’s available at the salad bar. Do note only one serving of salad per set meal is allowed so you can’t go back for seconds. I have seen people piling ingredients as high as possible on their bowls to make it all worthwhile so you just got to try that and see how high you can go. The variety of ingredients is not huge but some notable items to get would be the lychees and silken tofu that really lends some sweetness and smoothness respectively to the salad. Their sesame dressing is a must-try!

If I’m not wrong, not every outlet has a salad bar. I recalled the outlets at Changi City Point and Marina Bay Link Mall have the salad bar but not the Citylink Mall one so it’s good to call and check if you’re going to their other outlets.

This time round, I opted for their Half & Half Set A (S$20) which consists of a Tomato Sauce with Basil & Mozzarella Spaghetti, Cream Sauce Spaghetti with Crab, Shrimp & Scallops, soup, soft drink or dessert. Their half & half sets merely mean you can try 2 selected types of spaghetti at one time. Unfortunately, the choices of spaghetti are fixed for the half & half’s so you can’t pick from the ala-carte menu.I’m normally not a big fan of tomato based spaghetti but this Tomato Sauce with Basil & Mozzarella Spaghetti is pretty good. The taste of the tomato sauce is not overpowering and the dish is pleasantly balanced by the sharpness of the cheese and aromatic basil. Even though it doesn’t have much ingredients in it, the sauce makes it very palatable.

To continue reading, please visit http://springtomorrow.com/2013/08/04/yomenya-goemon-japanese-spaghetti-house/

Paradise Dynasty Restaurant needs no introduction. From its flagship restaurant in ION set up a couple years ago, its pocket friendly prices and well executed xiaolongbao and lamian have seen Paradise Dynasty outlets sprouting up in the heartlands to serve uo their signature fare to families. So it was at their newest restaurant at an isolated corner on level 2 of the Westgate Mall. Loyal customers manage to find the place and we had to await our turn though our family arrived well ahead of dinner hour.

As other family restaurants like Crystal Jade and Swensens hiked their prices this year, it was reassuring that Paradise Dynasty has maintained their prices at 2012 levels, while Parafise Gourmet members continue to get 10% of their bill expense credited into their accounts for their next visit. We ordered the egg loaf $6.00++, original xiaolongbao $9.80++ per basket of 10pcs, their signature rainbow xiaolongbaio $13.80++ ,the lamian in pork bone soup $8.00++ and fried rice with egg $7.00++ for sharing. The appetizer of chilled egg loaf never fails to please kids and adults alike. The xiaolongbao lived up to their reputation of being the juciest and having the thinnest dough among restaurants of the same genre. The handpulled noodles were done just right and was served in a deep bowl of hearty pork bone soup with lots of lean pork strips and shredded pickled veg or xue cai. Fried rice also passed the taste test so there was no need to brave the Orchard Road traffic and crowds and dengue risk to go all the way to ION for our regular xiaolongbao fix. Thumbs up for this new restaurant too.p

Osaka Ohsho is located in level 3 of Westgate Mall, along the same corridor as the Mall Conceirge cum SISTIC Counter. It is the third outlet of the Catalist Group's gyoza specialty restaurant. - which indisputably serves the tastiest and cheapest gyozas on the island. My dining companion and I simply love the juicy minced pork and shredded filling encased in the thinnest dough and panfried till crispy on the outside but noust and flavourful inside.

Isaka Ohsho is a cheerful casual dinung restaurant with a mix of booth seats and rows of tables arranged neatly against the walls. We liked the ambuent lighting and the cheerful chorus of warm and friendly staff who greet customers as they step into the restaurant and heartily thank those exiting the place after their meal. There is an interactive tablet at each table featuring the selectiin of appetizers, a la carte main courses, set meals, beverage list and a small selection of desserts. A printed placemat type menu us also thoughtfully provided for diners who are less IT savvy and staff are on hand to lend a hand to customers who need help placing orders on the tablet.

Cool concept, speedy service and a hearty dinner. We ordered the set meals which were great value as they came with Osaka Ohsho's signature gyoza, choice of main course, rice and a small bowl of egg drop soup. It was nice having our food served piping hot and in a jiffy during peak dinner hour. I had the sauteed sliced pork with bell pepperset meal (usual $14.90++ store opening special price of $12.90++ for limited time only) whilemy companion had the meatball set meal (usual $15.90++, promo price $13.90++). Both main courses were tasty and reminded us of Chinese stir fries rather than typical Japanese dishes.
Between the two, I prefer the pork with bell pepper as it came with veg and went well with rice. The meatballs were juicy and had been sauteed with sliced tomatoes and onions in worcestershire sauce but my partner felt this dish had MSG as he felt thirsty after the meal.

Overall, we enjoyed our dinner and will revisit this restaurant again to try other stuff on its fairly extensive menu. Service is good and the restaurant left us with positive vibes.