Dinner with some old pals and wanted to check out this established makan place. Turned out that only me and hubby haven't tried here before, my other pals said it's a choice restaurant to bring clients that is not too pricy and still don't feel cheap. So between the 5 of us, we had:

1) Fish Maw Soup - thick and chock full of ingredients. Nice, like sharkfin soup without the fin! Yay!!

2) Condensed Milk Powder Prawn - this is one of their famous dish and it lived up to its name. Interested sweet savory coat to the fresh prawns.

3) Orh Jian - this was a high class version as the oysters were larger than the hawker stall ones. Taste is good but one pal found it too dry.

4) Salted Fish Doumiao - good wok-Hei taste.

5) King Bak Bao - also good and very tender. Went well with the buns but I found the meat amount was a little conservative for the amount of buns. Either that or the men pile too much meat in their buns!!

6) Ngo Hiang - this one was nice! Best dish of the night!

7) Hokkien Mee - I expected more from here. It's supposed to be their signature dish too. But I found the taste is nice but nothing to rave about. It's just as nice as the good hawker versions.

It was a good dining experience but not a place I'll return as there are cheaper Zichar places that can deliver about the same quality.

Lunching with sis & cousin and sis didn't want anything Chinese so decided to check out Marche after all these years...

We decided to share:
1) Rosti - there wasn't a queue and there were already 2 Rosti sizzling in the pans. Chef gave me one and loads of sour cream. I guess the Rosti had been sizzling in the pan for a while as its more charred than usual. But I loved the burnt pieces so I didn't mind.

2) Fried Calamari - we saw a couple having this next to us and decided to 'copy' their idea. The calamari was made fresh and I went back after 7 mins to retrieve it. The crust is crispy and together with the tar tar sauce, it's not bad. But I personally feel the ones from Fish & Co are still the best around!

3) Grilled Chicken Breast - I thought to go for something light and health as I initially wanted to order the Spanish Paella. Sadly, the first fillet was not fully cooked in the middle and I returned it. Chef inspected it and didn't seemed fully convinced that he didn't cook it fully. He just informed me that he'll make a new one for me and I am to return in 7 min to collect it. I waited for an apology but none came and I just sigh inwardly and struck Marche down by another mark.... Tasty wise, it's ok with the sauce, pretty plain by itself.

4) Crepe with fruits - I was surprised when sis brought back a plate of crepe with fruits! We both don't eat fruits so had to offer cousin instead. The filling is with cheese and that was ok. Cousin had her with chocolate and was charged with a dollar extra.

We left Marche full but not exactly satisfied. I used to love dining at Marche but now I understand why the low ratings...

Was in the area and thought good idea to intro hubby to this Thai makan place.

1) Minced pork omelette - done ok and reminded me of how my mum cooks this still.

2) Sambal Kang Kong - very tasty and well fried. Best dish of the meal.

3) Olive Fried Rice - this dish was ok only. Very forgettable sadly.

4) Sweet & Sour Fish - initially ordered this for my daughter but she didn't like the sauce so I had most of it. I actually found it ok, not bad at all.

I have concluded that they have some hits and miss. Sad for us that it's more misses that day.

Got a couple of vouchers to have our family lunch to celebrate my parents' birthdays:

1) Shanbei Chicken - they do this dish better than me...sigh...

2) Beijing Duck - my daughter loves this dish and I must admit, it's nicely done.

3) Seabass with special sauce - deep-fried fish covered with their special sweet sour sauce, not bad.

4) French Beans with minced - I always love this dish and this is nice.

5) Spinach Beancurd - this seaweed-coated tofu is well done. Super soft on the inside...

6) Abalone Mushroom with Vege - the abalone mushrooms have a nice texture to them and it tastes very well with the vege.

7) Egg Plant with minced - another well-done dish

8) Ma Po Tofu - haven't have this dish for a while now. Really enjoyed this one.

9) Fried Silver Bait - crispy Fried fish that you can popped into your mouth, one after another!

10) Lotus Leaf Rice - this dish is quite nice actually, my daughter likes it

11) Fried Ee Fu Mee - this is a must-order as my other daughter is a fan.

12) Xiaolong Bao - the little 'pockets' of juicy minced in stock are nice. Only prob is you have to eat them hot to get the best satisfaction!

13) Chef Pork - I thought this dish is ok, not awesome lah.

In summary, Lao Beijing is an ok place to makan if you have a craving for china-Chinese food.

Bought a couple of vouchers as Bestie loves Thai makan and we went to check it out:

1) Mango Salad - I don't like mango but friends said its not bad.

2) Pandan Leaf Chicken - I was excited about this dish as the Ah Loy Thai served awesome ones! However, theirs were really a letdown as I found the meat rather bland. This has to be a lack of deep marination! Sad...

3) Thai Seafood Otah - this one was a saving grace. I could taste the fish bits and the texture was good. The spices worked very well and resulted in a pair of tasty Otah pieces.

4) Green Curry Chicken - this dish is also good. A little watery but taste still good.

5) Stir-fry Kang Kong - good wok-Hei with the sambal was good!

6) Claypot Prawn Tanghoon - large generous prawns on top of flavorful Tanghoon. The texture was a little mushy but taste was good.

7) Steam Seabass with Thai Sauce - the fish was fresh and sweet, I found the Thai sauce that they used seemed to be the type from Supermarket. Not that authentic in that sense but taste ok.

8) Tom Yum Seafood Soup - this is another major letdown! I thought any self-respecting Thai stall must get their Tom yum right!! The spicy is wrong and taste is funny. Isn't it sad if the Maggi mee version is taste better??!?

9) Tom Yum Prawn Clear Soup - not any better

10) Fresh Mango with Sticky Rice - friends liked this enough

11) Red Ruby - normal nice 12) Lemongrass Drink - normal nice