Aster Pau is a handcrafted dim sum specialist that operates from takeaway kiosks in shopping malls. Aster Pau has been expanding at a sustainable pace, now has a new kiosk at Junction 8's food hall opposite Polar Puffs & Cakes. The kiosk sells several types of steamed buns or 'bau', panfried buns, radish cakes, spring rolls, siew mai and crystal dumplings. I bought four crystal dumplings at $1.20 each. These were served piping hot from the wicker baskets stacked atop a heavy duty steamer.

The crystal dumplings here are not the Teochew style types with diced turnip, preserved radish, dried shrimp and peanuts. Aster Pau's rendition of crystal dumplings is like the Hong Kong style shrimp dumplings but with much thinner, translucent skin offering a peek of the fillings. Aster's crystal dumplings have really thin, pleasantly springy chewy skin encasing two plump, juicy, crunchy prawns that had been carefully deveined and lightly seasoned, wrapped together with some finely chopped chives. This crystal dumpling was of restaurant standard and justifies its price. Very good.

Dropping by at Ngee Ann City on a Monday evening, we were surprised to see the CBTL Cafe that has been around for ages sporting a new overhead signboard marked 'Beanstro'. Beanstro first made its appearance at the upmarket MBS Shoppes at one of the stellar shop locations surrounding the New York artist, Ned Khan-designed 'must see' water feature the Rain Occulus. Basically the same beverage and light meal offerings at any other CBTL Cafe, with the introduction of several all day breakfast items and hot one dish meals PLUS the addition of 10% service charge and 7% GST to the bill. We could accept this practice at the posh MBS and the coveted 'circle seats' just beside the Rain Occulus, but doing so at a more than 1 decade-old shopping mall smacks of profiteering. We walked in only because there were vacant tables readily available.

The chicken salad that we used to order elsewhere now costs $17.70 after service charge and GST.Medium sized portion and quite tasty. The other item was a hot dish under the All Day Breakfast section of the menu - Lamb Stew costing $18.80 after adding service charge and GST. Though the Cafe was not full we were kept waiting about half an hour for this item. This was excessively salty and hard as we tried (to avoid wasting food) we could only finish half of it using the paltry two slices of baguette served with the dish to moderate its highly salty flavour. The staff seemed to be more accustomed to working in a typical self-service CBTL Cafe than a full service Cafe. We had to ask for water before it was served and nobody bothered to refill our empty little glasses. Tired of waiting we went to the service counter (yes, those in all the CBTL Cafes) and helped ourselves at the 2 airpots containing hot and
chilled water.

Half hearted service, ok salad but terrible lamb stew. There are many more other better dining options at Ngee Ann City.

This Gong Cha outlet is not your usual kiosk but takes up a whole shop unit. It makes me wonder why the franchise holder leaves the front half of the shop space vacant instead of putting in a couple of high tables and bar stools for customers to hang out as they enjoy their drinks.

Here is the Gong Cha Milk Green Tea that I ordered. Love the mass of thick and fragrant milk foam floating on top of the pristine and clean tasting green tea.I could drink this all day, everyday.

This Starbucks outlet strategically opens out into the atrium of Plaza Singapura's revamped extension/new wing is alway a hive of activity. Despite the non stop stream of customers throughout the day and especially in the evenings and weekends, the team of baristas here serve customers briskly and cheerfully. My Green Tea Frappucino tasted great with robust green tea flavour cutting through the fresh milk which had been blended thoroughly with the ice cubes into a smooth, creamy and soothing beverage.

After an early lunch followed by mid afternoon dessert, both at noisy places, what we were really looking for was an uncrowded place for an unhurried chat, not something to eat, and not spending on drinks. So how? That was how we drifted into Skinny which thankfully served free tap water to diners. But food prices here are definitely not for skinny wallets. Too late to back out after slurping their iced water, broke people like us ordered a skinny pizza to share among four, and no half&half pizza here.

This is the 1/4 wedge of ginger butter chicken pizza ($25++ for 8"). It had no taste of ginger or butter at all, was topped by a couple of chicken chunks, a couple of cashew nuts but hardly any cheese or tomato.. Ok for a pre-dinner snack, but on the pricey side at $7.36 for a thin wedge of mediocre quality. And we left quickly after the quick bite because the chairs here were most uncomfortable.