Today we went to the Eight Treasures Vegetarian 八宝素食 and we order the $368+ Chinese New Year set meal that cater for 6 to 8 person. Even though this is a vegetarian restaurant but do not be deceived that it just served those plain normal tasteless vegetarian mock meat. This restaurant caught me by surprise with it's yummy delicious food that almost mimic the real meat ! Without further delay let me go on to review !

First of all, this place is easy to find as it is located along Chinatown. The decoration for the restaurant is very cosy, beautiful and innovative and it makes me feel just like home. The owner of this restaurant had obviously put in great thoughts into the decor.1. Veg. shark fin with white fungus and wolfberries 

I rate this dish 5/5. It taste just like the real shark fin soup filled with delicious healthy enoki mushroom, white fungus, wolfberries, thin slices of bean curd, mock ham, carrots and konnyaku (yam root extract to make the springy shark fin). It is well prepared in a nice, delicious and flavourful soup. This dish is environmental friendly to replace the real shark fin to prevent the sharks from getting killed.2. Fruit salad veg chicken

I rate this dish 5/5. It is covered with nice crispy potato that is used to mimic the chicken and underneath the mock chicken is filled with healthy delicious fruit salad like pineapple, apple etc. Overall taste is nice and refreshing.3. Thai style veg. cod fish

I rate this dish 5/5. The soy base mock cod fish is well made and topped with thin slice of carrots, cucumber etc fresh vegetables. The Thai sauce taste just right with a mixture of sweet, sour and spicy taste made from lemongrass etc. Eating this dish makes me feel like eating an authentic dish from Thailand !4. Veg. abalone mushroom with tou pau & seasonal greens

I rate this dish 4/5. The abalone mushroom is well cook, soft and tasty as it absorbs all the seasoning and sauce. The broccoli is well cooked just nice and it taste crunchy too. The white color tou pau should be removed as it is tasteless and it served no purpose in the dish except that it make it look nice that's all. This dish is good but nothing special.5. Cereal veg. prawns

I rate this dish 4/5. It taste just almost like the real prawns and the best part is it is not oily and it looks like it was fried using air fryer. Even the cereal topped onto the prawns is not oily at all. The floor coated onto the prawns is a bit thick though.6. Fragrant yam ring

As I don't really eat yam I will just comment on the inner fillings. Inside is filled with mock meat and a few cashiew nut. They should add more cashiew nuts and the portion is a bit small. The mock meat inside is nothing special as well.7. Braised Yee Fu Noodles

I rate this dish 5/5. I had eaten a lot of Yee Fu Noodles from other restaurant during weddings etc and this is by far the one with the most toppings like bean sprout, vegetables, mock meat and mushroom etc and it is one of the most delicious Yee Fu Noodles I had ever eaten. Even though I am very full near to the 7th dishes I still manage to finish eating the noodles as it taste qq and delicious as well.8. Fruity Mango Pudding

I rate this dish 4/5. The mango pudding taste just nice and it is a bit sweet only which is good as they did not add much sugar. The texture of the jelly is really nice and wonderful and I had never eaten mango pudding of this kind of smooth texture before. What prevent this dish from scoring full points is because the mango cubes is a bit small and too little and it is very hard to scoop up with the spoon as I try to eat the left over mango cubes in my bowl. They should cut the mango cubes into larger pieces and put it inside the pudding itself so that when we scoop the pudding, we also get to eat the mango. With the mango outside of the pudding, I feel like I am eating 2 seperate things and it is not coherent.9. Honey sauce veg pork

I rate this dish 3/5. The outlook and presentation of this dish makes it looks just like the real fatty pork ! I can see the white fatty part of the pork made of konnyaku and the meat part made of soy etc. Some ladies even try to seperate the white "fatty" part from the meat as though they are eating the real fatty pork. This dish is the best showcase of how far we have advanced in the vegetarian dish as people can no longer tell if it is the real meat or not. However the taste is just normal nothing really special and I will not recommend this dish.

10. Rainbow Yu Sheng

I rate this dish 5/5. The taste is comparable to other restaurant and the generous sliced vegetables are fresh and the sauce is nice too. There are tons of crispy crackers which is my favourite topped around the dish as well ! Overall taste is yummy and delicious and I recommend it for the Chinese New Year gathering. Just like traditional Chinese restaurant, the waitress will say all the nice new year blessings while showering the seasonings on top of the vegetables and our nice host Zenna presented the waitress with a ang bao as a traditional token.

11. Herbal Tea Ba Bao Cha

I rate this drink 5/5. The taste of this drink is really nice and refreshing as it is sweeten naturally with luo han guo and other traditional herbs. I personally don't like sweet stuff thus this is a healthier choice drink to complement the dishes. It is suitable to be drink in a hot day as well to cool yourself down.

4 Fingers serves korean fried chicken fast food way. I tried the 1 drum + 3 wings combo with the soy garlic sauce. My order came hot and the skin was still crispy (!) even though it's doused in the sauce. The sauce has a nice savoury taste to it. It wasn't overly salty as I would've expected.

The seaweed fries that came as a side was so-so (I prefer the one from McDonalds. Too bad it's not available whole year round.) For drinks, do try the Honey Yuzu Tea. A refreshing change from the typical sweet green/lemon tea that you get else where.

Price is slightly higher than your typical fast food restaurant but it is reasonable for the quality that you get here. Perhaps, I'll try their rice combos the next time. Quite a few people were eating it when I was there.

If you'll like to view the full menu (with prices) of 4 Fingers, check out this website that I'm working on! http://chewingyum.com/2015/11/09/4-fingers/

Yahava Koffeeworks is a 10-year old Australian brand hailed from Perth, founded by true coffee lovers who travelled the world on motorcycles to hunt for the best coffee. They brought their stories and beans home to work their magic into each and every cup of coffee the patrons enjoy; and they are in Singapore now - serving coffee as well as selling coffee stuffs (mugs, sieves, etc). The staff was very friendly.The Earl Grey Tea Cake (SGD$6.00) was an interesting creation - a dense, moist cake rich in earl grey's aroma with every bite, distinctive and sure. The additions of dried cranberries and walnuts added touches of flavour and crunch to the cake, and I deduced that I really liked this cake.Next, the Matcha Azuki Cake (SGD$7.50) was another amazing pastry - rich, creamy texture alternating between fluffy, soft, moistened layers. The sapid taste of green tea was evident and delicious; the red beans added bite and another level of sweetness to the cake. I could have ordered another of this.Now we move on to their specialities - coffee! We ordered an assortment to share, so we could maximise our trysts of different flavours. The colours were so lovely and tempting, and we did not know which cup to begin with.  Affogato (SGD$5.00) was sweet, creamy and made frothy by the scoop of vanilla ice-cream, cooling the hot coffee to a lovely temperature that was kind to the lips upon sipping. I enjoyable the aromatic coffee and ice-cream combination here.  Following that, the Rose Latte (SGD$5.00), became one of my favorites as well. It was redolent with bold hints of rose syrup aka bandung, in local context. The drink was pretty in pink with a frothy top layer giving way to sweet, aromatic, floral coffee concoction that was creamy and smooth all at once.

For full review and more detailed information, please feel free to visit:
http://thearcticstar.blogspot.sg/2015/11/afternoon-tea-at-yahava-kaffeeworks.html

[Boon Tong Kee Chicken Rice]
18 Cheong Chin Nam Road
Singapore 599742
Many chicken rice stalls have been popping up each year and finding one was really convenient. Despite so, bigger players like Boon Tong Kee, Tian Tian, Five Star are still coping well.
I was travelling along the stretch of food street along Cheong Chin Nam road the other day, looking for dinner and decides to step into Boon Tong Kee (BTK). The last time I patronized them should be 3 years ago. I was seated indoors at the aircon area as alfresco area was too warm. Servers were going around tables with plates of honey char siew slices, asking customers if they willing to purchase them as appetizers or not. This move makes BTK look abit hard up. We didn't take it but ordered the following dishes instead.
(1) Signature Boiled Chicken $9- This is a 2-pax portion of Boon Tong Kee signature chicken. My preferred part is always the thigh area (鸡尾) as the meat is more tender therefore I requested for it as usual. I remembered BTK chicken used to have a layer of jelly fats beneath the skin but sadly it doesn't exist anymore. The meat is still soft and tender but lack juiciness. The chilli mixed mashed ginger was great companions to pair with as it brings up more flavours to the chicken.
(2) Plain rice/ Chicken rice $1- Chicken rice (油饭) was served in a pyramid-shaped cone. Presentation scores! Rice was really fragrance and texture was just right, not too soft or mushy. I can take 2 shares of this
(3) Claypot Fried Pig Liver (砂锅猪肝) $12- The pot came sizzling with very fragrant soya sauce and ginger smell, made me drool before I even start eating it. Liver slices were thick and yet so tender. Timing was right and liver not over-cooked otherwise will be very hard and rubbery. Take with the ginger to spice up your palate.
(4) Poached Chinese Spinach with Assorted Eggs $10- 三蛋苋菜 I tried many. BTK version was quite generous for small portion. Broth was sweet and filled with natural veggie taste of chinese spinach. Stems not crunchy due to slight over-cooked but overall dish still decent. The generous amount of eggs also made this ordinary greenie dish pretty!
Verdict: Although BTK Signature chicken wasn't as tasty as it used to be but still decent. I felt that their cze char dishes flared better now and is definitely suitable for family dinner/ friends gathering. I don't mind coming back for other cze char dishes. Staff service needs improvement as they talked rudely and wasn't attentive despite not much dinner crowd.

1933 is a new F&B concept from The BreadTalk Group and diners can look forward to hearty soups served in bread bowls to all-time favourites like Hainanese Chicken Rice.

A salad worth trying is the Sawadee Greens [$14.90], a Thai-styled seafood salad with that punch of zest to the plain old salad. However, it comes with a steeper price for a simple salad.Priced at the same amount is the Nanyang Curry Chicken In Bread Bowl [$14.90]. Curry chicken is my weak spot and that explains why I'm head over heels with this! This could get messy but it is not stopping me to enjoy this aromatic and flavourful coconut-based curry in a crusty and soft bread bowl, the curry kampong chicken is a cosy and warming indulgence.A interesting take on pandan cake, Gula Melaka Pandan Cake [$8.90]. This yummy goodness is baked with bits of palm sugar for that extra Nyonya flavour and served with delightful gula melaka syrup. If only they could be more generous with the gula melaka.