Met up with a Muslim ex-colleague for lunch and since I was at Orchard road, she suggested Puncak which was near to where I had my course. It was lunch time when we met so the place was really crowded. Orders was taken fast but when I called for the bill, it was difficult to get their attention. Quite slow to return my change also. I ordered the hor fun and it was nice. The gravy was thick enough and not chunky. I had tasted some hor fun that still has flour chunks in the gravy. A good portion of squid, prawns and fish cake were added. Not too bad for that price. I paid $3.50. Can't sit for too long to chat because of the crowd.

This was highly recommended in another food review website and we decided to try it out since we were at Chinatown for our CNY shopping. The gravy is really watery. Not really to our taste. We had preferred the gravy to be a little thicker. However, I must commend that they put a whole lot of ingredients into the fish head curry. Those I normally eat only has lady's fingers and probably a little brinjal. This one has lots of lady's fingers, brinjals, tau poks, tomatoes and the fish head is fresh. The usual price is $22 but we paid $26. The owner explained that the rise in price was due to insufficient fish in the market. So the sellers increased the price which was then passed on to us, the consumers. Honest but still...the gravy would be better if it were thicker.

It was past midnight and we didn't know where else to chill out since some friend just arrived at 11.50pm. Xin Wang at Tiong Bahru plaza closes at 4am so we decided to go there. Surprisingly, it was still crowded at 12am. The only seats left for us was on the outside which we were not really keen. The manager was nice enough to let us sit on the outside and informed us when there was a seat inside. We wanted the aircon.I ordered teh-o just so that I can be kept awake while the chatting is going on. ($1.50)We wanted to order the giant beancurd but it was out of stock. So the crew suggested that we order the small one instead. She said that if we wanted the big one, they can make it on the spot for us but the waiting time would be about 45 mins. We didn't want to wait and opted for the small one instead. Quite smooth. The sugar syrup was really sweet! Towards the bottom of the bowl. The sweetness was overpowering so we gave up the last few mouthful. Not too bad as a mid night snack. ($2.20).

Having accumulated a good amount of points, my partner decided to do some redemption. One of such redemption is a $30 voucher to dine in Imperial Treasures. We ordered tie guan yin (my favorite tea) and it comes with a pretty teapot and 2 very cute cups. I heard that the cups used to be smaller. But I guess it's abit tiring to keep filling the cups so they decided to provide guests with larger cups.As our first dim sum dish, we order the xiao long bao. The whole dumpling was full of soup and it came oozing out the moment you take a bite. We heard from the Shanghainese that the way to eat xiao long bao is to bite a whole and suck out the soup instead of putting the whole dumpling into our mouth. This way, we can prevent scalding. It works! ($4.00)Don't really like this simply because I am not so into fried stuffs unless it is super fantastic. My partner highly recommended this because he had it before. Definitely not my kind of taste. Too much flour. ($5.50)I have never seen so much egg yolk in any egg yolk dish! All the prawns were coated with egg yolk so much so that I think it's way too much! The prawns are succulent and big. Unfortunately, over supply of egg yolk spoil the taste abit. ($8.00)This is a must-order dish whenever I have dim sum. The one here is cooked well so the moment you put it in your mouth, you can easily pull out the bones. And best part is that it simply melts in your mouth! My partner took one and I finish the whole thing. ($3.20)The pork rib is also quite well done. The meat is tender and doesn't stick to the bones. I'm never a fan of pork rib so I can't say it's the best. But it's worth ordering. ($3.50)This is the best of the entire meal. I tried it in one of those dim sum restaurants in Hong Kong and surprise to find it here. My partner had one and I finish the other 2. It's not too sweet and the softness of the cake combined with crunchiness of the chestnut gives it a very refreshing adventure. I forgot to note down the price but should be around $3.Heard that this is one of the signature dish in any shanghai restaurant and since they have it here, we decided to try it out. The red bean paste inside the ball is delicious. They have mashed it up really well. Not my favorite because there wasn't enough red bean in the souffle. ($4.50)

Eighteen Chefs was started by Chef Benny Se Teo. My first encounter with Chef Benny was when he was still working in Goshen at the halfway house (which has been closed down). Even having been trained in Jamie Oliver's restaurant "Fifteen", his passion for giving second chances to ex-offenders was not doused out. In fact, he was more "on-fire" when he came back to Singapore still giving ex-offenders a chance in life.

This is more of a self-service restaurants. The friendly crew will bring you to your seat and then you write your order on the order chit. To confirm orders, simply make payment at the cashier and your orders will be served to you. Ice water, chilli sauce, tomato sauce, mustard, chilli flakes, cheese flakes, cutlery, napkins are all self-service.This is a dish where aglio olio comes with grilled chicken topped with mushroom sauce. I love the juicy chicken. Quite disappointed with the aglio olio because it wasn't spicy like what I had in other restaurants. It wasn't the right taste even after I added chilli flakes. However, I have to say that the salad was fresh! ($12.80)My partner ordered the Fish and Chips coz she wanted to try out the taste of what root beer battered fish and chips taste like. We didn't taste any root beer at all. The batter was crispy and the fish meat didn't have the fishy taste. Quite enjoy it. ($13.80)Added $3.80 for the soup, garlic bread and homemade ice lemon tea. The soup is really creamy. It's just like Campbell soup without adding water. The ice lemon tea is too sweet for our taste so we added ice water into it. If you order the ice lemon tea alone (without the combo), it would cost $2.80.I took half of whatever was on my friend's plate and gave her half of mine....so we can try out each other's food.

Price is reasonably and most importantly, no GST and service charge.