We just celebrated the Fun & Crazy Party of New year on last month.
And Next WHAT ?? CNY is coming soon in another 3 weeks.

Family gathering and CNY festive are just in a corner of all of us.
So, what is your MENU plan for CNY ?
Lou Hei – Yu Sheng is absolutely what we are waiting for on every lunar year.

I am truly honored to be able to enjoy the first Lunar New Year menu from Dian Xiao Er 店小二 Will be launched on this coming Friday 30th Jan 2015 till the last day of CNY.
About Dian Xiao Er

Dian Xiao Er is a restaurant, specialty in traditional Chinese cuisine with an unique Ancient inn dining experience. It has been operated for 13 years with the first outlet at Chinatown and subsequent expanding at various shopping malls, reach up to 10 outlets across Singapore.The tasty food is absolutely no doubt with a comfort food in a homely setting, slightly above Zi Char pricing. The rustic ambience features the freshness of their famous signature herbal roast duck which are prepared and roasted daily in their kitchen.

Customer can choose to have a different dining ambience, designed from the traditional Chinese inn to dining inside a rustic timber shed at the foot of a stone cliff .

To usher the golden year of goat, Dian Xiao Er has specially created dishes for us to indulge for this season. The featuring special menu on Golden Jubilee Year as follow :
- Sauteed Baby Lobster with Pumpkin Sauce
- Prosperous Braised Trotters
- Hongkong Style Chinese Pomfret

To stay true on the delectable dishes and bring the guest to enjoy the most memorable dining experience for CNY season, Dian Xiao Er has put down the efforts in order to come out with a delicious choice for Lunar New Year Menu thru having a discussion with their Chefs and a number of tasting since Last November.


Salmon Yu Sheng

The first meal served in our table. Everyone was WAOW !!~~ large portion of Yu Sheng for 12 pax And included Me !!! was excited to wait for Lou- Hei together.

Sided with a Fresh Salmon, Oil to avoid the dryness of vegetable absolutely it is (not a cooking oil ), Delicious Plum Sauce, and Yummy Crackers.

Do you know what is the correct step to eat Yu Sheng ? First of all, squeeze the lime on the salmon to have a savoury and enhance the testNext then , Put the salmon on top of vegetableContinue on by, Pouring the Oil and Plum Sauce togetherLastly, sprinkle the cracker on the Yu ShengNow is a time to LOU - HEI .. !!!! ~~~ ( shout out all the Chinese Prosperous Poem )
Everyone hand was busy and Let's Lou High High ..

Shark's Fin Broth with Crab Meat & Conpoy

Special designed for CNY occasion, the luxury dish of Shark’s Fin Broth comes together with Crab Meat and Conpoy - dried scallops serve as a delectable light meal for family enjoy.

For Ala – carte order is only available either with Crab Meat or Conpoy instead of both. So, why not go for Menu Set to have both as it would be much more appetizing.

Signature Herbal Roast Duck with 3 Flavours
( Angelica Herb, Ten Wonders, Wild Ginseng )

The signature Herbal Roast Duck is a must try at Dian Xiao Er. The art of duck roasting has been acquired through years of experience. The finest quality of Cherry Valley ducks they use, combined with a traditional preparation technique and modern equipment yield the tasty perfect roasted ducks.

The common signature is Ten Wonder Herbs Roast Duck. Duck is roasted with the herbs and subsequently the herbs will be used for its sauce. The tender and sweetish juicy of its meat especially the crispiness of its skin is really awesome to have more of its ideal roasted ducks.From Left to Right : Wild Ginseng, Ten wonders, Angelica Herb

To have a flawless enjoyable roasted duck with a special recipe of its each sauce, Firstly we shall start the secret recipe sauce from :
- Angelica Herb known as Dang Gui 当归 in chinese - the least strong taste and lesser herbal.
- followed by Ten Wonders - my favorite although it is a bit salty.
- lastly followed by the strongest taste of Wild Ginseng - mulberry

Sauteed Baby Lobster with Pumpkin Sauce

Special dishes of Golden baby lobster are tossed in delectable thick salted egg sauce and sweetened with pumpkin for a sweet touch. Lobster is easier to come out from its shell when you dig. It is much more convenient to eat with no hassle without the use of hand.

The lovely pumpkin sauce made me couldn’t left out my hand from digging the sauce to eat together with lobster. It is a good choice to satisfy you palates and special created to start off for your sweet note of the year.

Note : It was cooked with Chili Padi hence the spice is there. But, surprised !! i didn't taste the spice at all perhaps my tounge has been freezed by spiciness.
So, Readers !! Please take on note it

Prosperous Braised Trotter

Originated dishes from Malaysia, and recommended trotters by their professional chef. It is a traditional dish braised for over a few hours. A tender soft meat well complemented with the savouriness of dried oysters and shitake mushrooms, indulge in the flavourful combination for a traditional feast with family.

Hongkong Style Chinese Pomfret

The most prized grade of Chinese Pomfret – Steamed Fish. Rarely, to have this big portion of Pomfret and it is also my first time to see it. Good to have this to start ahead for Lunar New Year occasion as it is a must have for celebratory occasions.

Steamed with ginger in a hongkong style to retain its freshness and tender meat. Although the meat was not soft but the complement of light sauce to accentuate the au nature! freshness of fish and tasty fried onion make the Pomfret to have more flavoursome.

Luxurious Abalone Treasure Pot

The luxurious abalone as what we have during CNY is served in a pot with complement of soya sauce and braised for quite a some tome together with a tasty dishes of sea cucumber known as Hai sen - 海参in chinese, carrot, sweet – pea, fish maw, and mushroom.

It was a bit dry, hard and raw on some dishes thus it was not really so appetizing but the fish-maw was nice and soft enough. Nonetheless, After gotten our feedback, I believe that before the official launched of their CNY menu, they will make an  improvement on it and serve the best quality for customer to enjoy!

D – Boiled Hashima ( Cold )

A chinese dessert prepared in a thin cold broth together with raw sugar, red dates and some Chinese herbs which allegedly has all sorts of health benefits. Generally, hashima is a cheaper version of bird’s nest soup.

It really doesn’t taste anything other than the taste came from midly sweet broth rather than the jelly but it is good for refreshing after a dinner as a light nature.

Note : There is an early bird discount for takeaway packages before 1st February 2015.

Saturday will be the Last day to enjoy the special prices !
Collection : 18 February, between 9am to 3 pm
Order have to be made in – store and collected in the same outlet

Details of the CNY Menu Set & reservation, you could refer to their website
http://www.dianxiaoer.com.sg/

Marche Restaurant originally come from Switzerland, is specializing in high quality dining of Swiss restaurants. The dining concept is styled as a European marketplace, where you place an order and collect your meals at your food prefernce stalls.

The serving food choice of Fresh variation of salads, crispy thin pizza , seafood and pasta, vegetable or meat with mouth watering sauces, grilled choice and light juice creations are freshly prepared in the open kitchen right in front of guests to watch.

It was gonna be my awesome dinner with the signature dishes of Rosti at Marche - all time favorite in Marche. It looks like a roti prata but absolutely it is not. It knowns as a swissh dish mainly consists of potatoes. The potato part is tasted like a hash brown but neither it is a hash brown.  Although it is a bit too oily, but the crispy golden rosti is really delicious and nice for the second round.Topping of dishes such as chicken sausage, fried egg, beef or portk at the side of Rosti is available upon your order. 

Crepe would be a good choice for the light food . Lovely Caramel sauce makes the crepe very yummy though it would be taste better if it is a crispy crepe instead of soft uncrispy crepe. 

I was craving for waffle so much !! So, decided to find the answer for places selling a flavoursome waffer. Found out 1 place located at Toa Payoh lorong 1 - HDB .

The cafe is quite small and mostly crowded by office people during their lunch time. Most of them aimed for the ice cream. So, certainly, the ice cream should be quite popular.

Since i been there around 1 PM plus which is the lunch time and Opss!! Didn't expect that the cafe was crowded due to the lunch time ... We was thought of lunch time should be lesser people hang for dessert.

We waited for 15 - 20 mins for the seat and even till our waffle were ready to serve, there was no seat available yet. All were occupied. No choice, we told the staff that we couldn't find any seat and i think she is the owner of the shop and helped us to find seat ..

Thank you so much for the lady boss.
We appreciate so much on it . Without her help , i think we must stand and wait there nearly an hour.  So, the good time to be there was during the tea time

We ordered a different choices of ice cream :Love the crispy and the scent of the waffles. We topped with the ice cream flavour of Ferrero Chocoate, Earl Grey, and Hollicks ice cream. Earl Grey would be the top choice among the 3 ice cream. Nice, delicious. Yummy !!. Hollicks would be the 2nd choice and Ferrero is the last one because it taste bitter and i don't really like it . .

Zaffron Kitchen is specialized restaurant of Northern & Southern Indian Cuisine. The cosmopolitan and modern ambience at East Coast Outlet has a main dining hall spaced with colorful mix of tables and chairs. The catch eye high table of wine bar enable guests to simply perch themselves on the available wines while enjoying a chilling background music.Their latest outlet at Westgate is another full serviced restaurant with bar making it a great place to relax and feast on delicious indian food. The unique sight at East Coast Outlet is having aplaying area of cottage playhouse and furnished with kid-friendly toys for kids aged 7 and below. Parents, families can be assured that their kids are entertained at the Children's corner.Zaffron Kitchen is a cosy and classy enough restaurant that not only perfect for family dining, yet it is perfect dinner for two or feasting with the whole circle.


Signature Dishes

Main Course :

- Butter Chicken $16
- Tandoori Mixed Grill $22
- Dum Chicken Biryani $ 13.50
- Palak Paneer ( Vegetarian ) $13
- Tandoori Malai Chicken Tikka $13

Drink :

- Masala Chai $4.50
- Mango / Sweet / Salted Lassi $6

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Stater of the day

I was flipping out through menu but couldn't find it, then i was told it is not inside the menu. Thanks to Zaffron Kitchen and the chef provide us the warm up fine taste of India smell

Top : Sour Prune Potato

It is a nice starter, indeed it wasn't sour at all. Love the smell of topping sauce on the soft baked potato

Middle : N.A

The feel of India cuisine was started in mouth while i bite the well smashed potato served in vegetable on placed on top of Roti

Bottom : It is a fish. Strong smell of india spices is well mixedMushroom Soup

Appealing smell of mushroom soup, neither too watery nor too creamy, although it is a bit saltybut it is good enough while eating together with the bread. Quite enough mushroom founded in the soup instead of the broth.Pumpkin Soup

One of reason people would choose the pumpkin soup instead of other soup is because of the existing of the roasted turkey in the soup. It makes the soup smells good and not watery.Corn Soup

A simple soup, tasted average with no special adding of comments.
Mango Lassi

Sweet and rich of well blended Mango Yogurt. Love the smooth of its Lassi , in fact it is oneof the most popular beverages in Norther India.Tandoori Turkey Set

Appetizing of well roasted tandoori turkey served with herbs vegetable, chestnut filling & rice of its raisin pilaf. Indeed the fresh roasted turkey sangs into my soul while it went to my mouth.

The tandoori set comes with Crispy Dosa though it is nice but i can't really take it with the spiciness, so i took the yummy lime sweet sauce on the tomato to spread it on the dosa to decrease the spiciness level, at least i helps a bit.A deep fried side dish of well made up texture of chestnut, serve as a complimentary set from Tandoori Turkey Set. It taste yummy and not oily at all.The contained metal basket of Papadum, a thin wafer of indian cracker made from rice flour was a delighted appetizer. Typically it is served during a meal in South India or at the end of meal in North India. The deep dry fried snack would be serve better with a curry sauce.Shahi Turkey Biryani

Delicious turkey breast cubes marinated with yogurt and freshly ground spices, cooked together with flavourful basmati rice and saffron. The turkey is well cooked and it doesn't hard to bite at all.

The rice is so nice with the great cooking ingredients especially the mouth watering of the its curry.Masala Chicken

Tender chicken marinated in pleasant masala curry. It comes together with the crispy cracker. I do like the sweet of its curry sauce and recommended to put on top of the cracker to have a right feel of Indian Cuisine.Blueberry Chocolate Sliced Cake
Masala Bread and Butter Pudding

The texture of the cake is soft and not too sweet. The sweet-tooth of blueberry jam makes the chocolate cake taste more appetizing. The Masala bread and butter pudding is not bad too but it was quite filling and i felt very full after have a slup of the pudding, perhaps due to its butter.

Blogged : http://cennds.blogspot.jp/2014/12/food-review-zaffron-kitchen.html

Since saw a number of post and review about Nam Nam Noodle Bar, Vietnamese cuisine. I was quite curious on their specialty of Vietnamese Food. It is known of the good serving of Pho and Banh Mi. Pho means noodle and Banh Mi is Vietnam Sandwich.

Full Blog review : http://cennds.blogspot.jp/2014/12/nam-nam-noodle-bar_9.html

Taking a look at menu and we would like to go for Banh Mi instead of Pho. Before finalized the order, we looked around on whether they are serving an ice water and i realized that most of the guests didn't order a drink.

Banh Mi

Toasted baquettes stuffed with grilled chicken meats, egg omelette, chicken floss, and various healthy vegetables such as pickled carrots, cucumber, and cilantro. Suggested to remove the chili peppers

if you are a non-spicy foodie. I was dazed when on my half way enjoying the chili pepper, and didn't know that there was a pieces of hidden chili pepper in the midst of the ingredients.Serving ingredients is very fresh and quite full enough for the packed stuffed ingredient in the Banh Mi. The non spicy Hoisin sauce is delighted which i use it to for the compliment of the  sandwich's topping sauce. It taste sweet and have a smell of vietnamese cuisine.