Had pleasant dining experience at Nara Restaurants in Bangkok and Singapore but this visit made me decided to boycott this Nara outlet for good. The restaurant was busy when we visited at lunch but it was certainly not understaffed. So there was no excuse for the lack of hospitable service usually extended to customers at Thai restaurants. We had to ask twice before we were served iced water and when we asked for chilli sauce and sliced chilli padi the  waiter brought the condiments without providing any saucers. Always ready to put up with crappy service if the food is good, we remained in good spirits but we're let down huge time.

The set lunch remains at $13.90++ but now does not come with soup or salad and a choice of beverage. A scoop of mango salad or pomelo salad for $3.90++ and a scoop of ice cream for the same add on price. Here is their signature Nara Thai Boat Noodles (see self explanatory photo) which was served with a deep fried chicken wing hacked into four pieces. If Nara Ion had a change of chef or the recipe for the dish that made the restaurant famous had recently been tweaked, it was a change for the worse. The soup was clear and tasteless. The pork balls were replaced by frozen fish balls that had a faint fishy smell. The minced pork had not been marinated, was overcooked and appeared as unappetizing clumps. Even fishball bak cho mee from a hawker stall or cooked by China staff at a food court looks and tastes better than what I was served at Nara Ion. I will leave it to my makan kaki to review his set lunch of Thai fried rice and his side order of pomelo salad. The side dishes are not worth the trouble, neither was the so called Boat Noodles that I was served that weekday.

Watami never fails me when I need a nice Japanese meal without spending a bomb. The staff are friendly, the dining environment is pleasant and laid back and the colourful, droolworthy menu has almost every type of popular Japanese food one can think of ~ sashimi, sushi, sukiyaki, takoyaki, tempura, tonkatsu, udon, ramen, yakitori, etc...something for everyone.  We headed here for an early dinner prior to our movie, and were fazed by the choices available. Arriving just shy of 5pm made life easier as we could order from their menu of weekday value sets, priced from $9.80++ to $17.80++. Each set includes a side salad, miso soup and choice of coffee, tea or soft drink. I opted for the tori oyako don while my dining companion had the ishiyaki buta don. Our main courses arrived within ten minutes of placing our orders.

While Watami is positioned as a casual family restaurant, we spotted students, couples and working adults during our visit, and the items we ordered, while not top end Japanese food, were tasty, served piping hot and contained good quality ingredients. The tori oyako don had plenty of chicken chunks and a MSG-free scrambled egg gravy that was the perfect consistency to stir into the rice beneath and coat each grain thoroughly.   My makan kaki, a self-confessed, fussy diner, could not find fault with his order  either. The buta don was topped by juicy, thick slices of pork and was served in a sizzling stone pot. The buta don had a fabulous aroma when the server brought it to our table. Having the set meals meant we were eligible to order selected appetizers and desserts at half price. The teba (usual $7.80++, only $4.00++ with set meal) i.e. deep fried chicken wing mid joint, would be a great accompaniment with beer. The teba was served with a sprinkling of fragrant sesame seeds and drizzled with black pepper sauce that made them delightfully crispy and morerish.

We had neither space in our stomachs nor the time to order any dessert. After such a hearty and satisfying meal, it would take a movie with eye candy and a riveting plot to keep both of us from snoozing in the cineplex.

Paradise Inn has a range of set menus priced at $10.80++ to $11.80++ which are available on weekdays during lunch time. These are one dish rice or noodle meals that are served with a bowl of double-boiled soup of the day, blanched lettuce and an appetizer. The main course is served in a stone pot but serves no purpose since the dish is cooked separately. The office crowd does not have the luxury of time to afford a lengthy or leisurely lunch break so it is redundant to serve the main course in a container that keeps the food warm over an extended period of time. I picked the seafood vermicelli set - the noodles were tasty if a tad salty, and were cooked with exactly three pieces of each ingredient - shelled prawns, calamari rings and fish sliced as thinly as fishcakes in a typical bowl of fishball noodles. To get more bang for your buck, opt for what my colleagues did - plain rice with a choice of either fried pork rib, sweet sour pork, sautéed chicken, etc - all similarly served in a heavy stone bowl. Drinks are no longer included in the latest menu of lunch sets, though water is served at no extra charge.

Paradise Dynasty's newest branch takes over the space at T3's mezzanine floor overlooking the departure hall which was hitherto occupied by Crystal Jade. We are delighted with the new restaurant as it means that we no longer need to head to their flagship restaurant at Ion Orchard to satisfy our cravings for handcrafted noodles and xiaolongbao with innovative soup base. The quality of the food and service at T3's Paradise Dynasty surpasses that of the previous restaurant occupying the same premises. The marinated jellyfish with seafood was a palate pleaser, as were the original xiaolongbao, foie gras xiaolongbao and black truffle xiaolongbao. The limited edition offering of a basket comprising four each of the danggui xiaolongbao and shiquan xiaolongbao received mixed reviews; some of our family members could not appreciate the robust medicinal herb-based soup filling. The staff were kept busy with the never ending stream of weekend diners but were cheerful and efficient, unlike the apathetic attitude of the Crystal Jade crew that served us during our previous visit to T3 in January.

Nara's 2nd outlet in SG is more spacious than its first restaurant at Ion. We skipped the queue by opting to sit at the alfresco dining area. Prices here are steeper than at other Thai restaurants in SG but the quality of the food makes up for it. The Erawan Tea Set $12.99++ is served from 2:30pm - 5:30pm and comprises a three tier rack of Thai finger food and petite portions of Thai cakes and Nara's popular sticky rice with mango dessert. Not entirely satiated with the palate-teasing bites from the tea rack, we ordered Nara's homemade coconut ice cream which was served with eight types of toppings for the diner to create his/her own sundae. Nice but a tad pricey at $8.80++ per scoop. Service was run of the mill.