While waiting for my "I Love Taimei" order to be ready, I went over to The Black Taj stall next to it to take a look.

They offered a number of grilled stuffs on sticks and sausages. I ordered Black Pepper Prawn and Tikka Chicken. Was a bit disappointed that the sticks were just throw into the microwave oven to heat up upon your order.

The prawn looked fresh and nice. The Tikka Chicken will be better if the spice is stronger. Taste was ok.

Where can you find a abalone set meal which cost only $12.50+ ?

Visit my blog at http://monsoontravel.blogspot.com/2012/04/cheap-abalone-and-sharks-finsrabbit.html

Recently, there is a Groupon deal, $7.50 for $15 Worth of Chinese Fare at Rabbit Brand Seafood at Circular Road, which worked out to be a 50% discount to this already cheap Chinese food fare. Super value for money!

This old tiny restaurant was decked right at the end of the Circular Road, at the back of the Boat Quay, beside those happening pubs and bars. Not much of a setting to talk about, just a rather cramped place with food court style table and chairs. Well, at least there is air-con in the indoor dining area.

In this inconspicuous tiny place, they offer nice and value for money Chinese set menu starting from $5.50. Each of the set menu will have at least one delicacy in the menu - abalone, sharks' fin, scallop, sea-cucumber or fish-maws.

Braised Whole Abalone with Special Make Spinach Beancurd Set (原粒鲍鱼配特制菠菜豆腐)
We ordered the most expensive set on the menu, which is only $12.50+. The set come with rice, Chinese tea and a dessert that is like Cheng-Teng.
Although the abalone was a bit small and you might not notice it among those big size mushrooms, broccoli and crab stick, it is still a whole abalone and quite rich in flavour.
The Spinach beancurd was what I liked most, crispy fried with soft inner beancurd, providing different textures and accompanied with the fragrant spinach taste. Simply yummy!

Buddha Jump Over The Wall (迷你佛跳墙)
The other popular set is this All-in-One "soup", Buddha Jump Over The Wall @$6.50, which is one of the most luxurious dish of Chinese food. All the mini delicacies - abalone, fish maw, dried scallop and shark's fins are added together and simmered to give a rich broth. Nice to go with the white rice. A small plate of bean sprout also came with the set.

The 3 set meals and a can of ginseng bird's nest cost $30 before GST, just nice for 2 vouchers. The restaurant is able to offer such delicacies at a cheap price because the company (Yeow Seng) have their own factory for canned abalone, bird's nest and shark's fin.

The food were quite nice. For the price we are paying, do not expect the dishes to be as good or delicate as those high-end restaurants.

There are only one service staff and 2 chefs at the shop. Don't expect much smile on the serving auntie but she will deliver your food and settled the bills promptly.

Had always prefer my food flavour to be strong, so fish soup was seldom my choice except for occasions when I am feeling guilty of gluttony.

More photos and review at http://monsoontravel.blogspot.com/2012/04/fish-soupxin-yuan-ji.html

Fish soup from Xin Yuan Ji is not those bland soup but rich, flavourful, slightly peppery and with a tinge of sweetness. You have a choice of whether to add milk to your fish soup. To have an extra "shiokness", You can add the red chilli provided to the soup. After we finished the soup, we saw some brown powdery sediment which should be grounded dried sole fish which adds flavour to the soup.

Fried fish meat soup @$5.80
Fresh fish slices fried to lovely golden brown in a rich and flavourful broth. Fried batter and shallots further enhanced the taste. Simple but nice.Fried red snapper fish head soup @$7.30
Chunks of red snapper fish head fried to taste. It was a leisure to slowly bite and taste the crispy fish head chunk. I ordered the thin version of the bee hoon so that it absorbed the fish soup and is flavourful even on its own.

Felt really homely when they took out a home-style folded paper box for our fish head bones. Simple practical act to avoid the unsightly bones all over the table.

Fine dining can be for Chinese Cuisine as well, TungLok Signatures delivers that.

More review at http://monsoontravel.blogspot.com/2012/03/chinese-cuisine-fine-dining-tunglok.html

With 2x$25 Groupon TungLok Group dining vouchers at 2x$12.50, we paid only $35 for a nice meal at TungLok Signatures @ Vivo.

Pan-fried French Foie Gras @$14.80 per piece
The foie gras was rich and flavourful. The slightly charred outside and soft fatty fat within were perfectly complimented with a slice of fresh juicy cucumber and a piece of beancurd skin which give the wrap an extra crisp. Simply yummy! Kurobuta Pork Pan-fried @$14.80 per piece
Although it was a small thin slice of pork, but it was enough to give you the oomphs. Pan-fried bring out the fat from the marbled fat pork to give it a nice slight burnt taste. The tender kurobuta tasted much richer than normal pork and goes really well with rice.

Poached Cabbage with Ham 云肘翠玉 @$6 per portion
Poached cabbage artistically arranged and served with a piece of Chinese ham (金華火腿). It came with a nice broth as well. Rack of Lamb @$10 per portion
Pan-Fried Rack of Lamb with Special Homemade Sauce 香煎澳洲乳羊We were kind of disappointed, its not really tender for a sucking lamb mutton and not as flavourful as the thin slice of Kurobuta pork.

Away from the bustle and hustle of the city, the Cliff restaurant is at a quiet corner of Beaufort Hotel at Sentosa.

More photos and detailed at http://monsoontravel.blogspot.com/2012/02/romantic-dinner-cliff-sentosa.html

The alfresco dining area is at a balcony platform which overlooks South China Sea, supposed to boast a nice sunset view in the evening while romantic illuminations from the ships during the night. It was cloudy that evening and we only managed to catch a glimpse of sunset skies.

Contemporary European cuisine is served here. Liked the casual yet comfortable settings - long wooden tables and benches with back and comfortable cushions, modern rustic settings with ceiling fans ventilating the area.

Before the meal start, there were some small sized offerings known as amuse-bouche being served. The amuse-bouche included some kind of thick creamy soup in small cups, small toast with paste-like chopped tuna decorated with some rosemary and a jelly.We order Tasting of Oyster with 5 different preparations as a starter
- Umami - dashi pearl, oba granite and seaweed
- Sour - lapsang souchong vinaigrette and citrus fruits
- Bitter - Sorrel juice and salted sago
- Salt - smoked ham and shrimp floss
- Sweet - Strawberry espuma, coriander and balsamic jellyMain course is Tajima Wagyu Beef @$125. The chef recommend medium rare for the steak, slightly charred on the outside and very tender and juicy inside. Usually when beef is a bit rare, it can also get slightly chewy. But this medium rare wagyu beef was very moist and tender. For the first time, I enjoyed the fresh meaty taste of the inner beef more than the strong seared charred taste on the outside.My dining partner ordered a Ibérico Pork @ $62, strip loin, rib roll, apple-sauerkraut purée, potato dumpling and cabbage roll. Black Ibérico pig origin from Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain), usually known as Spanish pig, supposed to be special for its marbled fat like Kobe beef.

The Cliff Lemon Tart @$20 - textures of lemon, gin and tonic jelly, tonka bean ice cream and yuzu sorbet. The ice cream and yuzu sorbet was nice.

Service was good and prompt. It was very kind of them to offer a complimentary cake for our birthday celebration. There is also complimentary shuttle service from the hotel to HabourFront/Vivo, you can just check the timing at the concierge.