Have you tried the recently-transformed dining experience at Crystal Jade's Plaza Singapura outlet? Hailed as the all-new Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen, this new food establishment offers steamboat buffet at wallet-friendly prices. This new restaurant is an extension of Crystal Jade's current operations, so here are 10 Things about Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen you probably didn't know.1. It's homely and welcoming!Remember all those times you visited Crystal Jade with your family, loved ones and friends? The soft lighting of the 140-seater restaurant creates the ideal warm-and-fuzzy atmosphere for great conversations to be born. Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen enhances the experience with their knowledgeable and friendly employees. I asked several questions about the origins of the food and they KNOW them all!

2. Choose from six different soup bases These include Pork Bone soup, Tomato soup, Curry soup, Miso soup and Superior soup. Those who have fiery tastebuds and would prefer something more intense, challenge yourself with the Spicy Mala soup. Each steamboat pot comes with two compartments so you can choose to enjoy different soup bases.

3. All-you-can-eat steamboat with free flow of drinks and soft ice cream for lunch and dinnerCrystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen offers a wholesome spread of more than 35 ingredients including fresh chicken, pork and beef slices, mussels, mushrooms and vegetables. This is probably more than the average number of ingredients I usually have at reunion dinners at home!

4. The Minced Pork Paste and Chicken Paste are home-madeWhat's so special about home-made food? Well, the recipes ignite nostalgic memories in your subconscious. I really loved how Crystal Jade enables us to be creative in shaping our meat with these slabs of paste. You can simply dunk the entire slab into the soup in one flat squarish chunk, or attempt to make your own meatballs, and trust me, that takes a lot of skill. More importantly, the intense flavours and smooth texture of the meat pastes were well-received by my tongue.

5. Daily Special: Deep-fried items to snack on while you wait for the soup to boilMost of us simply want to tuck into our food without waiting. I was delighted to know that cooked items are offered daily at the buffet counter. I tried the Deep Fried Fish Skin, Deep Fried Chicken Skin and Deep Fried Mushroom Stems. They were flavoursome on their own, but you may choose to dip them into the soup for that extra richness. My personal favourite would be the Fish skin because it was really crunchy and chock full of briny deep-sea goodness!

6. Fine slices of fresh pork, chicken and beefYou don't like beef? Not to worry — there's pork. You don't like pork? Well, there's chicken. These meats are kept refrigerated and only served upon ordering. This ensures their freshness!

7. Missing the traditional Cantonese favourites? They didn't forget your roasted combination platter! The Roasted Combination Platter (S$25.80/per serving) is definitely great for carnivorous beings like myself. The Roast Duck is served with a golden proportion of meat and fat. These ducks are specially selected from Ipoh duck
farms, where newborn ducks are raised to 7 weeks of age. The ducks are seasoned with various Chinese herbs stuffed in their stomachs before being
roasted. The Quality pork belly is seasoned with salt and five-spice powder, before being roasted for 1.5 to 2 hours. The crispy skin and flavourful juicy meat is not to be missed! Last but not least, the Honey Barbecued pork is glazed with a mixture of honey and sauces and skewered with long forks
before being placed to roast.

8. The crispiest Deep-fried Yam Puff with Minced MeatAnother quintessential favourite at Cantonese dim sum restaurants, each piece is packed
with soft, fragrant yam with juicy minced meat and deep fried with delicate golden flakes. You can get this a-la-carte for only S$4 per serving (3 pcs).

9. They have one of the freshest Ha-Kau you can find!The fresh shrimps are wrapped
with a thin layer of dough skin and steamed in a traditional bamboo basket until the skin is
translucent. They're really juicy and fresh! Didn't understand why they were so slippery to pick up though. The Steamed Shrimp Dumplings are priced at S$4.60 per serving of 3 pieces.

10. Chewy and the colour of sunshine, this never fails to satisfy.You'd be surprised at how juicy the Steamed Pork & Shrimp with Crab Roe Dumplings (S$4.20 per serving of 3 pieces) are! They are really moist and matched the lofty standards of all the steamed dim sum. Addictive to the max!

Thanks to Crystal Jade Steamboat Kitchen for the media tasting session. Now I know where to go for my next gathering!

Weekday dinner buffet: S$20.90++ for adults and S$17.90++ for children (12 years and below)

Weekend and Public Holiday dinner buffet: S$26.90++ for adults and S$23.90++ for children (12 years and below)

There's no place like home, and there is no greater pride than having our very own local Gordon Ramsay in Singapore. Award-winning Chef Tan Yong Hua is not only the FIRST Singaporean chef to emerge triumphant in Iron Chef Thailand, but also a winner of a gold and 2 silver medals at the prestigious 6th World Championship of Chinese Cuisine in China. Now, he has his very own Restaurant HOME brand on his shoulders at The Rail Mall. Is his craft comparable to that of non home-grown brands? Let my tastebuds tell you more. (Read till the end of the post for an ongoing promotion at Restaurant HOME)Chef Tan Yong Hua with his signature smoky, tantalising duck!

Barbecued Peking Duck with Lychee Wood

炭烧荔枝木烤鸭 — SGD $68 (Whole Duck)The Peking Duck is Chef Tan's signature dish! If you order a whole duck, you get a three-in-one dish presented to you. First, the skin from the breast is served together with palm and white sugar. Chef Tan knows his duck really well, and pointed out that this part is the prime cut of the duck. Indeed, it was extremely crispy even while retaining much of the duck's juices. It's best eaten with the mixed palm and white sugar so that the varied flavours melt evenly in your mouth.Meat from the whole duck

Next, the sliced duck meat is served together with cucumbers, leeks, sweet hoisin sauce and crepes. I was surprised we had to put the ingredients together ourselves as most Chinese restaurants serve up ready-made Peking duck crepes. Chef Tan explained that upon exposure, the crepes lose moisture quickly and turn hard. They were thus served in a dim sum steamer which we could cover to retain the moisture.Warm and soft freshly-steamed crepes.

The dish was perfectly balanced and had a therapeutic yin-and-yang feel to it. The cucumber and leek formed the yin food, while the yang food was the meat and hoisin sauce. Combined into the crepe, the dish was both richly savoury and sweet at the same time. Just as Chef Tan pointed out, the crepe was satisfyingly chewy, probably because it was thicker than most other crepes.Baked Marble Goby in Claypot with Chef Tan In-house Recipe

炭烧焗鼎锅笋壳 — $9 per 100gInitially stir-fried with lemon grass, galangal, spring onions and oil, the fish is then steamed in Chinese white wine, ginger and parsley for about 7 to 9 minutes. The taste is extremely compact; the fish packs some strong flavours without any unpleasant fishy smell. I would highly recommend this as a sharing portion for about 4-5 people.Chef Tan explains the intricacies of cooking up a perfect dish

Homemade Egg Bean Curd with Shrimp Paste, Crabmeat and Roe in Pi Pa Style

珊瑚琵琶豆腐 — SGD $18My first reaction to this dish was: Where is the tofu? It seemed as though it was drowned in shrimp paste, crabmeat and roe, but lo and behold, looks are deceiving! The egg bean curd almost melted in my mouth without any vigorous chewing and I thought I could slurp the entire dish down all by myself! It was really fragrant and extremely fresh and soft. Visually, the dish doesn't appear that pleasing but it is victorious in the sensory realms of taste, smell and texture. Contrasted with some other tofu dishes with rough skin and partly burnt edges, this dish was evenly cooked. I couldn't pick out the individual elements of shrimp paste, crabmeat and roe because they had fused into a thick and rich gravy, and one that was absolutely sumptuous.

Three Kinds of Vegetables Wok-fried in X.O. Chili Sauce

酱皇烧田圆 — SGD $18A trio of broccoli, asparagus and snow peas wok-fried in X.O. sauce

Crunchiness defines this dish. The vegetables were sweet and fresh, with a spice kick from the sprinkling of chili flakes. However, I thought the portion was smaller than average. The X.O. chili sauce provides the flavour that unites the dish. This is clearly not for you if you don't like spicy flavours in your food!

Deep-Fried Duck with Dried Chili, Roasted Minced Garlic and Capsicum Pepper Fine Salt

桥低避风塘鸭件— SGD $10This dish is created from the meat left over from the Peking Duck. For an additional $10, the remaining meat can be prepared in one of three ways: as a stew with vegetables, beancurd and mushrooms, wok-fried with ginger and onion, or deep-fried with garlic and chili. The latter version provided a huge contrast to the flavours experienced earlier, and I was surprised at the various ways in which duck meat could be cooked. I thought the capsicum pepper fine salt was slightly overpowering though, and so I didn't really fancy this dish.

Stewed Golden Noodles with Lobster and Spring Onions wrapped in O Ba Leaf

乌巴叶姜葱龙虾焖黄面— SGD $12.50 / 100 gmThe lobster is great enough to be a dish on its own. The huge chunks of briny crustacean made it extremely satisfying to devour, and I didn't think lobster paired with stewed noodles would make such a winning combination. I really loved the creative presentation of this dish, and coupled with the tantalising flavours, it definitely deserves high praise.Stewed Golden Noodles

While I thought the noodles looked like bee hoon, they actually had a bouncier texture, and the strands were easily separated. In other words, it's easy to divide the noodles into serving portions because they are not clumped together.

Soup of the Day (Old Cucumber Soup)

老黄瓜汤 — SGD$20Have you ever had a dish which gives you a heartwarming feeling of home and family? This old cucumber soup is a familiar favourite of mine, and I would say there is a sweet finish to every spoonful. It was only later that I realized the usual pork ribs were replaced with chicken, and this little twist certainly did no harm at all to the taste of this ubiquitous traditional favourite.

Homemade Ramen with 8 Head Quality Amidori Abalone

8头网鲍拉面 — SGD $26We had a sampling portion of the 8 Head Quality Amidori Abalone, and oh my goodness! The abalone had a really chewy texture and I truly enjoyed the dish. The abalone itself is the star and highlight of this dish, and the simple, pared-down presentation allows it to truly shine.

Crispy Roast Pork with Homemade Yellow Noodles

干捞烧腩仔肉黄面 — SGD $24The roast pork is extremely crispy because it is initially boiled before being placed in the steamer and then dripped dry. The layers of pork were almost fused into one, with no visible signs of fat at all. It was indeed very crispy, and there was a slight hint of saltiness cutting through the various flavours.

Barbecued Duck with Lychee Wood served with Homemade Yellow Noodles

干捞荔枝木烧鸭黄面 — SGD $24This dish wasn't as good as the earlier Peking Duck portions as it was a tad too dry. If you are looking for a simple single-portion meal, this should cut it, though my personal preference would be to order the Peking Duck over this dish.

Chilled Japanese Pumpkin Puree with Black Glutinous Rice Served in Pumpkin

金盅南瓜紫米露— SGD$10Another thoughtful presentation that looked like a dish for Halloween. The pumpkin puree with black glutinous rice was heavenly as I could taste the simple pureness of the dessert. It almost gave me goosebumps because I felt it was really light and pleasantly satisfying. I would highly recommend this.

Chilled Rosella Flower Jelly with Diced Mango

洛神冻 — SGD $6This chilled Rosella Flower Jelly makes a great takeaway for sleepyheads, in particular those who encounter after-lunch drowsiness. It really perked me up because of the shocking flavours of extreme sourness, though my friend who is used to the taste of Rosella thought it was perfect. My shoulders and arms trembled with each bite as I tried to suppress my equally sour facial expressions, but I guess the health benefits of this dish make it a great conclusion to the feast.

Restaurant HOME is currently offering a 1-for-1 Set Lunch promotion (min 4 pax) on top of the lunch set menu. More details here: http://www.littletinysun.com/2014/12/restaurant-family-singapore-review.html

There is great joy in giving and receiving, especially during Christmas! I was really blessed to receive the SweetSpot Hamper from Marina Bay Sands. If you're wondering what would make the perfect romantic gift for someone you love dearly, this hamper will definitely wow your other half! Here's a word of caution though: the hamper felt like it weighed 3 kilograms or more and it's definitely not something you would enjoy carrying while shopping! Thankfully, it's so much more convenient if you are driving (or being driven)! Read till the end to find out about the ongoing promotions (valid till 1 January 2015).

SweetSpot Hamper — SGD$185.00Chocolate Pralines and NutsThese designs are specially crafted for Marina Bay Sands, as you can tell from the iconic logo. Regrettably, the chocolates turned rather hard after being placed in the refrigerator. On hindsight, I believe these chocolates were made to withstand melting even in Singapore's hot and humid conditions, so there is no need to keep them in the fridge! Be delighted by an assortment of dark chocolate, milk or white chocolate and pure chocolate.

Chocolate-covered NutsThese are extremely addictive! Compared to other chocolate brands I have previously sampled (including those from Switzerland and France), this certainly stands out with its crunchy and slightly powdery texture, It was also not overly sweet. I had this to tide me over the exams and I finished the entire box in a week. Surprisingly, I didn't fall sick!

Handmade Chocolate Raspberry Jam with nutsThick and gooey, this huge jar of handmade jam only lasts two months after opening. The texture of the nuts comes out strongly in the jam, and this makes your bread feel more like biscuits because it is so crunchy! I couldn't detect much chocolate though; the raspberry taste was so strong, I felt like I was eating the fruit itself. Refrigeration is required even before opening, to prevent it from spoiling.

Piper-Heidsieck ChampagneClassic Piper-Heidsieck Champagne

My family is saving this bottle for Christmas! Having previously fallen in love with Piper-Heidsieck at an event, I can guarantee it's the sort of champagne you can have many rounds of without ever feeling sick of the taste.Hot Chocolate MixOh my gosh — what a rarefied taste of chocolate this is! The Hot Chocolate Mix features coarser-grain chocolate powder that appears somewhat lumpy, but it dissolves smoothly in hot water. It is only after sipping (or gulping) this wonderful drink that I realised I haven't actually tasted a genuine cup of hot chocolate before! Forget about those chocolate drinks that taste no different from Milo or Ovaltine, and get the real deal.

Divine Macarons — S$2.70/pc, S$14/box of 6, S$25/box of 12Isn't it amazing that you can derive such pleasure in a delicate assortment of Wild Raspberry, Chocolate Mint, Strawberry Basil, Passion Fruit, Salted Caramel, and Dark Chocolate macarons? Presented in a magnetic box, these beautiful babies are evenly baked and melt readily in your mouth. I especially love them straight from the refrigerator - chilled, sweet heaven in your mouth.You can also get a smaller SweetSpot three-tier gift box which consists of 12 pieces of macarons and 12 pieces of chocolate pralines and nuts. You can check out the price at http://www.littletinysun.com/2014/12/sweetspot-hamper-from-marina-bay-sands.html

Sands Rewards LifeStyle members receive 20% discount.
Citibank card members receive 15% discount.
Hotel guests receive 10% discount.

The only Tonkatsu specialty chained restaurant in Singapore, Tonkichi bills itself as a cosy restaurant in reminiscent of the causal eateries in Japan. With the soft yellow lighting, the restaurant is a stark contrast from the nearby brightly-lit Japanese department store, Isetan. From the positive raving reviews about their Original Tonkatsu, I was skeptical about the quality and authentic of their Japanese food. I decided to try for myself to see if it is really one of the best Tonkatsu restaurant in Singapore.
Dashi Maki Tamago - SGD8.00Delving my chopsticks into Tonkichi's Dashi Maki Tamago reveals a wonderfully savoury taste. It was piqued with a hint of sweetness, and the eggs were so fluffy that it felt like chewing on cotton candy. It was strange how the chef could make the egg thick yet soft at the same time.All Original Tonkatsu Sets are served with Japanese rice and miso soup. They can be called Original because it is truly the most authentic Tonkatsu I have ever eaten.

Kuro Buta Rosu Katsu Set - SGD32.00
Deep fried black pork shoulder loinCrispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, the Kuro Buta (Black pork) was not oily and extremely moist. The shoulder loin was evenly tender, and it could easily go without any sauce or garnishing. Eating it on its own is definitely flavoursome enough.Other items and prices in the Original Tonkatsu set include:
Hire Katsu Set (3 pcs — SGD21.00; 4 pcs — SGD25.00)
Deep fried pork fillet
Mentaiko Kasane Katsu Set (SGD28.00)
Deep fried layered sliced pork loin sandwiched with mentaiko (spicy silver cod roe)
Cheese Kasane Katsu Set (SGD28.00)
Deep fried layered sliced pork loin sandwiched with cheeseRosu Katsu Toji Set - SGD23.00
Deep fried pork loin simmered with egg and special soya sauce served in hot plateYou can find the Rosu Katsu Toji set in typical food courts, but the freshness and tenderness of the meat can never beat Tonkichi's. Served with free flow of Japanese radish, the amalgamation of the eggs and deep fried pork loin provides deeply savoury flavours and melts in your mouth.The added garnishing of seaweed also gave natural saltiness to the dish, with a hint of underwater aroma

The service was really slow, but I guess they can't handle the large number of customers. We also had to sit on a table with strangers, so it was kind of unpleasant as there was no privacy. Other than that, the food is really great and it's worth visiting!

Stateland Cafe is a well-known industrial-themed cafe that many in your social network would have visited. It is particularly famous for its Red Velvet Waffle after it was featured in mainstream media. I was really looking forward to my visit to Stateland and thought it would be as good as most reviews paint it to be.What struck me immediately upon entering the cafe was the severe lack of space. The tiny shop had hardly any room to walk, or even snap any pictures. Most of the blog posts I have read gave me the impression that it was spacious and airy, but no. We had to squeeze through the aisles and look, I can't even take a picture of the shop properly without having my companion's elbow in the shot! (He was trying his best to dodge my camera).
Eggs Benedict — S$14.90I really enjoyed cutting through the tall tower of the eggs benedict. The mushrooms tasted great despite the lack of gravy or sauce. I guess the mushrooms are the only delicious part of their eggs benedict.Look, these are merely soft-boiled eggs! Certainly not how eggs benedict are supposed to be...The yolk WASN'T runny, and I thought I might as well make this myself at home.
Red Velvet Waffles — S$14.90I was really excited to try the much-raved about Red Velvet Waffle. It looked grand upon arrival! Seems like the trio really know how to present their food well. However, the waffle looks burnt, doesn't it? Not red at all.True to its outward appearance, the Red Velvet waffle tasted burnt. It wasn't very sweet despite all the swirls you see. In fact, it tasted really weird.Cutting through the waffle, it seemed to me that artificial red colouring was used, rather than the traditional beetroot extract. Why should I pay a whopping $14.90 to kill myself? Most other reviews describe how delicious Stateland's food is; perhaps my visit was only a one-off disaster. But nope, I don't think I'll be returning any time soon.