It wasn't too long ago that one had to drive all the way to the East Coast to feast on cooked to order market fresh seafood. Thankfully more seafood restaurants are setting up shop in the city area so having a seafood fix after work does not entail a long commute now. Big name seafood restaurants like No Signboard and Jumbo have been iperating our of the Esplanade Mall and Boat Quay/Clarke Quay respectively for several years now.

The Superior Sharks Fin in Claypot Thai Style $50++ can be shared by up to two persons. Dorsal fins are braised in a concentrated brown coloured seafood and chicken stock with bean sprouts and corriander leaves served in a side plate. The latter is added to the claypot at the table just before serving so diners can enjoy the QQ gelatinous fins and the crunchy sprouts along with the flavorful brioth.

Chilli Crab is one of Jumbo's signature dishes. At $58++/kg it is not cheap but at least you won't risk being served an "underweight" crab at Jumbo. The Sri Lanka crab was as fresh as can be with firm succulent flesh and the chilli gravy was pleasantly spicy without being numbingly hot and viscously sticky. Perfect for dipping our deepfried mantou' buns into.

The fried rice was full of ' wok hei' but a little short of ingredients.

A nice gesture was the offer of complimentary dessert - soursop with shaved ice which was just what we needed to cleanse our palate after a hearty dinner.

There is a place for tea on the cheap at the posh MBS Shoppes - at the TCC Cafe at B2 (Canal Level) at the far end near the bumboat disembarkation point. Sofa seating, free wifi, glossy magazines to thumb through, powerful aircon and soft piped in music are part of the deal. Perfect for killing time on Sunday afternoon without shelling out the $100 casino levy.

Tea set (see photo) comprises two crumbly scones, canapes and two chocolatey petit fours, with a cup of the house brewed coffee or English Breakfast tea for just $13.90++. The canapes are tasty and morerish, but I found the frosted chocolate cake too sweet. TCC should consider replacing one of the two scones with a savoury finger sandwich or a light choux pastry or macaron.

Service was polite and unobtrusive, making this a conducive place for a tete-a-tete between friends. The only gripe is spending here does not earn one any Sands Lifestyle Reward Points.

It is always a pleasure to bite into one of the choux pastries from Chewy Junior - the cream filling is gossamer light and airy without being too sweet. Here I can indulge and pamper my sweet tooth to my heart's content without feeling too guilty - unlike cup cakes which are dense in texture and heavily loaded in calories esp from the excessively sweet fondant frosting.

The chewy puffs with strawberry puree topping, apple pie filling, blueberry with cream cheese twirl and lemon curd with raspberry jam are all very good. Chewy Junior now offers a small selection of unsweetened choux pastry puffs with savoury fillings for those avoiding sweet stuff. The puff with a red patch on top (see photo) contains diced chicken char siew. They also have black pepper chicken. My favourite savory puffs are those filled with a light and zesty tartar cream and topped generously with chicken floss - choice of original or spicy/chilli chicken floss. These light puffs let me enjoy the chicken floss minus the carbohydrate laden buns sold at BreadTalk.

The Coffee Club revamped their menu earlier this year and now offers a bigger selection of light bites and finger foods like sandwiches, pies and pizzas. The triple decker club sandwiches come with a choice of foccocia or ciabatta bread and either fries or potato wedges. Besides the usual cheese, egg, bacon, lettuce and tomatoes, diners can pick from different combos of additional toppings such as chicken tikka with chutney, smoked salmon with roast chicken etc. The portion can be shared among two persons for a snack. We picked the Luscious Club Sandwich which was lip-smackingly good. The chicken tikka, crispy bacon and sunny side up egg layered beteeen freshly toasted thin slices of foccocia was a delightful contrast of textures. Next time, we'll revert to picking fries for our side instead of the cajun spiced wedges. Fries are served in a glass and the quantity is sufficient for sharing as compared to the few miserable pieces of potato wedges.

The Watami Restaurant at Star Vista, located just behind Brotzeit, is the Japanese family restaurant's largest outlet, with a warm, welciming environment and ample seating.

We ordered the Watami Salad ($6.90++ for half portion, $10.90++ for regular/full portion), the Fishcake with Octopus ($6.90++), the Wafu Pizza ($10.90++) for sharing between two persons.

The Watami salad comprises romaine and frissee leaves served with shredded chicken, shredded seaweed, shredded crispy sprung roll skin and their house dressing which tastes like a blend of 1000 island and caesar dressings, with two shelled shrimps and halved cherry tomatoes for garnishing. A colourful salad that tasted as good as it looked.

The octopus fishcake $6.90++ looked big in the photo on the menu but turned out to be a tiny slab cut into six thin slices. It was pleasantly chewy and full of minced octopus but we felt it was rather pricey.

The Wafu Pizza has an ultra thin cracker crisp crust like the pizzas served at Waraku. It is drizzled sparingly with cheese, teriyaki sauce and topped with diced chicken chunks. We quartered the pizza yielding two slices each - tasty but not very filling.

Overall, we had a nice lunch, with prompt and pleasant service from the mainly Filipino staff.l