Asia Grand Restaurant is a quite a long established brand in Singapore, previously it was located at the former Asia Grand Hotel. Since the demolition of the hotel, it has relocated to Odeon Tower. I have a friend who is a fan of their Dim Sum, though I have never tried them. This remind me to try them out one day. Meanwhile, this post is devoted to the Dinner I had with a group of ex-colleagues.It is interesting that throughout the meal, the diners felt that the food served at Asia Grand Restaurant is closer to Teochew cuisine despite them being a Cantonese Restaurant. One other point to note, Asia Grand Restaurant is one of the few restaurants that offer a table big enough for 15 pax. 

On the table, before our dinner began were plate of appetizer of fish cake and peppers. Most of us find it strange that this appetizer was served instead of the usual peanuts or pickled.We ordered a Special Set Menu for 10 person at $598 ++. As we have 15 pax, we added for 5 pax. In this set menu for dinner, 8 dishes were served.
To get the dinner rolling, we started with the Steamed Fresh Prawn, 白灼生虾 as the first dish for this special menu. Anything that is fresh when steamed, the natural flavour and its sweetness were emitted. And this was the case for our Steamed Fresh Prawn.As we have diner who doesn't take shark fins, as such the Braised Minced Chicken Thick Soup with Egg White, 西湖鸡茸羮 was a good choice as soup. The texture and taste resemble the usual shark fin soup. But personally, I am never a fan of soup, and not even to mention the thick gluey kind. Anyhow, I still went ahead to try and I could savour the chicken aroma in the soup and there was a good amount of minced chicken in it.It was shortly followed by the Braised Sliced Sea Whelk with Vegetables & Abalone Sauce, 鲍汁碧绿海螺片. Nothing worth mentioning about this dish except that the seasoning added to this dish was at a perfect ratio.Who doesn't welcome the Roasted Whole Boneless Suckling Pig, 南乳去骨猪? With a layer of fats in between the crispy skin and tender succulent meat with sufficient marinate, most couldn't resist the charm. This truly is an indulgent.The fifth dish of the night is the Fried Crispy Duck, 脆皮香酥鸭. True to its name, it is indeed crispy and salty. Other than that, no other characteristics. I heard many, even one of the diner in our group was raving about its Peking Duck. Maybe it is better than the fried one.Moving on was the Steamed Fresh Pa-Ting Fish with Olives, Garlic and Chilli, 榄角蒜茸辣椒蒸八丁鱼. I thought usually the Teochew would use olives in dishes. I suppose this was the dish that cause confusion and most thought Asia Grand was a Teochew Restaurant. Another usual was the fish for the dish, it uses Patin Fish, a Malaysian fresh water fish. I am not a fan of fresh water fish as it usually has soil taste in the flesh. At least, this unpleasantness wasn't in the fish.The last dish before dessert was the Crispy Rice In Seafood Soup, 金银海鲜泡饭. Many diners always associate rice in soup as a Teochew dish. Some how I am puzzled with this phenomenon as we Teochew (I am one.) don't eat that way. And my Dad always complains about this highly debatable dish as Teochew dish too. Anyway ... I suppose this is another element that contribute to the thought Grand Asia Restaurant as a Teochew Restaurant.Both white rice and fried crispy rice were both added to the bowl of seafood soup. Hence it provided both texture to the the dish and together with aromatic seafood soup, most would not refuse this comfort food.The meal was ended with the Red Bean Pan Cake, 豆沙窝饼 as dessert.

Quantity was sufficient for all 15 person at the table and quality was beyond satisfactory. Food was considerably delish at a reasonable price. The ambience was the typical Chinese restaurant that gets noisy. As such, I would recommend Asia Grand Restaurant for dinner to all.

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I am pretty sure many enjoy Mookata since it has both the barbeque and the steamboat. ChokChai Mookata at Ang Mo Kio Ave 1 is one of which that serves this category of food. I went down with a four foodie friends to check them out. By the way, in case you are curious of the name, ChokChai means victory.
ChokChai Mookata is located at a coffeeshop at Block 334 Ang Mo Kio Ave 1. Since it is a coffeeshop, so there isn’t air-conditioned, neither are there great ambience. All you get are the usual normal tables that are seen in most coffeeshop.The staill occupied a relatively large corner stall as compared to the other stalls operating at the same coffeeshop. It is standalone from the rest, since there isn’t any stall on either right or left.
ChokChai offers primarily Mookata. It has 2 sets for either set for 2-3 ($28) and set for 4-5 ($45). In each set, it consists of Thai Black Pepper Chicken, Thai Garlic Lean (Pork) Meat, Honey Pork Belly, Prawn, Sotong, Scallop, Pork Ball, Crab Stick, Fish Ball and Hot Dog.And with quite some variety of greens too; Xiao Bai Chai, Cabbage, Golden Mushroom, Sweet Corn and Carrot. 2 others are Tang Hoon and Egg.

Should diners need more ingredients, there is an ala carte menu. A few others that are not found in the set are Luncheon Meat, Dory Fish, White Clams, Cheese Tofu, Cheese Ball, Quail Egg, Beancurd Skin, Oyster Mushroom, Rice and Thai Instant Noodle.The most sinful but best part of Mookata is the Pork Lard. Use it as oil on the skillet to bbq the meat.

The highlights at ChokChai Mookata are the marinated meat using their secret recipes from Thailand. They are Thai Black Pepper Chicken, Thai Garlic Lean (Pork) Meat and Honey Pork Belly.Generally, the meat are heavily marinated, strong in flavours. Some may also find it a little salty too. The Black Pepper Chicken is richly black pepper flavoured best for black pepper fan. Thai Garlic Lean meat was mainly salty with garlicky scent. And lastly the Honey Pork Belly which has a good ratio of fats and meat. It tasted a little like the Chinese BBQ Pork, Bak Kwa.Lastly, of course the 2 special chilli sauce concocted for the dip. The red is a hot spicy chilli dip while green is the at mild spice and more sourish. This is more suited for the seafood.
Oh ya, and the soup is worth a mentioned too. Each soup is so flavourful filled with pork fragrance and radish sweetness.

We thought the set for food served at ChokChai Mookata was pretty delish. The marinated are stronger in flavour and a little salty. It is certainly a great way to enjoy Mookata with a group of friends and family.

Tang Restaurant And Bar located along the highly dense street of restaurants and eateries is owned by Zoe Zhang. It was re-branded from Tang Steamboat Restaurant. The restaurant specialises in Szechuan Hot Pot. 

We understand from them that the objective of creating this restaurant was to provide a more refined Szechuan Hot Pot where the expat and foreigners would enjoy.With that objective in mind, you will observed that the interior design of Tang Restaurant and Bar is classy and elegant. The space isn’t big, in fact, I would describe it as relatively tiny. It could occupied only a maximum of 40 diners.

The space is divded into 2 section. First section, at the entrance is the bar where diners could enjoy a glass of wine or any drink before or after the meal with some bar snack such as the Deep Fried Enoki Mushroom.
The latter section is the dinning area where diners get to enjoy the piping hot pot. Tang Restaurant and Bar is also thought to provide private dining rooms for guests too. There are 2 rooms which has a removal centre partition to make it one big room that can occupy a total of 14 diners.

The Hot Pot
It was certainly an experience to dine at Tang Restaurant And Bar. I felt the experience is equivalent to fine dining. The service crew will dish you the first bowl of soup before you start the meal. And all food will be cooked by the service crew too.There are about 3 soup based served at the Tang Restaurant And Bar. We have the Mala and Signature Golden Imperial Broth. Beside these, there were Tomato Soup which is also very popular among their regular guests. Diners could choose 2 out of the 3 soups for $21.The Signature Golden Imperial Broth was boiled for more than 8 hours with Pig’s bones, Fish bone, Old Hen and together with over 10 herbs till it is whitish in colour. The Mala soup is also worth a mentioned. The ingredients used to boil the Mala Soup was in consultation with traditional Chinese Physician to ensure that all herbs and spices are in the perfect harmony by Chef Zou Bin who helmed the kitchen of Tang Restaurant And Bar. This avoids having excessive heat, diarrhea, stomach pain and other ailments after having spicy soup especially in huge amount. Importantly, the soup are free of MSG.The soup are generally light in flavour so if you have a light palate, this is perfect for you. I truly enjoyed the soup at the end when lots of ingredients wer cooked in it and it created even a sweeter and richer flavour tone.We started off with the Translucent Sliced Fish ($22), since fish has a lighter taste among the rest of the ingredients we ordered.The service crew will help to cook the sliced fish in both the Signature Broth and the Mala Soup. Though the sliced fish was so thin till it was translucent, nonetheless, I could still enjoy the flavour and texture of the fish.Various homemade minced meat paste were served at Tang Restaurant And Bar too. The noteworthy items were the Minced Seafood Paste, Minced Fishball and top selection the Homemade Meatballs. I enjoyed the meatball as in it there are cilantro to provide the herb fragrance and chestnut to provide the crunch texture.
All the minced meat paste were chewy to the bite. It was certainly excellent.For meat selection, the Beef Sliced and the Iberico Pork Sliced are two of the must ordered hot pot ingredients.One other ingredients which all of us enjoyed so much till we ordered the second portion is the Homemade Dumpling. This dumpling is made using Zoe’s mother recipe. The dumpling skin was so smooth and in it there are some, I think were black fungus to provide the crunch. Should the dumpling skin be thinner, it would certainly be perfect.Even though I am not a beancurd fan, I would want to miss having the Deep Fried Beancurd especially with the Mala Soup based.Mushroom fans, great news, there are assorted variety of mushroom to go along with the hot pot.For those like me who need greens, there are quite some good selections at Tang Restaurant And Bar too. There are Chinese Cabbage, Spinach, Lettuce and Kai Lan.If diners need to turn to some carbohydrates, a good recommendation is the Cold Noodle ($7). This version has lots of vinegar and lightly spice in it.At the end of meal, a complimentary bowl of dessert, Snow Fungus was served to each guest.We enjoyed the lightly sweet and a little jelly like texture of the dessert.
It was a fabulous dinning experience. It is highly suitable for a small group dinning, perhaps with your best family or a small family of 4 – 5. It would be a little tough to settle for large group unless you opt for the private dinning room.
If you don’t like doing your own cooking of hot pot and preferred to be served, Tang Restaurant And Bar is the place to turn to.

Full review with photo on http://www.nahmj.com/2016/04/07/spicy-thai-thai-aljunied-singapore/

Spicy Thai Thai Cafe is hidden at a quiet corner of Aljunied Ave 2. Beside the block is a swimming complex. When I saw the spot, I believe most would miss this gem if they don't frequent the area often even. To make things worse, there is a food centre diagonally across the block which most patron will stop there when they spotted it.This Thai cafe is founded by Ron Poh who is very passionate of seeking authentic Thai food. As such at Spicy Thai Thai, tea leaves were imported from Thailand for the signature Thai Iced Tea, different dressings for different dishes were made in-house and desserts were made from scratch. This is the dedication of Spicy Thai Thai in providing authentic Northeastern Thai dishes to their customers.Menu was thick. One could easily be drowned in it. Food offered is array, ranging from Appetizing Bites, Salads, Soup, Seafood (King Prawns, Squid/Shells, Abalone, Crab), Fish, Meat, Eggs, Vegetables, Noodles and Rice. And it includes Mookata Combo Set. There is no lack of selections.We started with a soup, the Fish Maw Crab Meat Abalone Soup in Coconut ($28). It is similar to the Shark Fin Soup. In each bowl, there are 2 ten heads abalone with generous amount of Fish Maw and Crab Meat too. Soup was flavourful with a perfect level of salt amount.

If diners prefer some regular choice such as Tom Yum Soup, both red and clear ($7/$14) are available and the Coconut Tom Yum Soup Special ($18/$28) were also offered. Other choices includes Mushroom Soup ($7/$14) and Tofu Soup ($6/$14)We didn’t have any of the salad. As much as 8 types of salad were found on its menu. Instead we proceeded to have its Hommok, Thai Style Otak ($18) which is found under its “Succulent Squid/Shell” Section. The Otak has a good sense of coconut and aroma and the various herb and it is lightly spicy. It also has hefty amount of seafood in it.Don't be deceived by the look of this dish. The Stir-fry Fish Maw, Crab Meat & Bean Sprouts ($18) was surprisingly good. It was flavourful contributed by the various sauce and the egg. The beansprout and the carrot added crunch to the dish.In this same section, we ordered BBQ Squid (seasonal price). It was tender to the chew with its natural sweet retained. Most may find the chilli roe sauce that is by the side, weird. This has a strong liver flavour, coming across pungent to many. It certainly is an acquired taste. I was neutral. For the faint-hearted, don't try it. It is for the adventurous only.The last dish we ordered under the “Succulent Squid/Shells” section was the Lala (Clam) Mee Hoon ($18). This is a MUST order. All the diners at the table enjoyed this dish. The Lala amount was plentiful. I hardly see Mee Hoon but the clams. The flavour of this dish is mainly garlicky.

Other dishes found in the “Succulent Squid/Shells” section are Squids in Spicy Lemon Soup (seasonal price), Thai Style White Pepper Clams, La La ($15), Steamed New Zealand Mussels ($18) and Basil Mussels ($18).Coming to meat selection, there is a page devoted to it under the category “Tender Juicy Meat”. First dish from this section we ordered was the Stir-Fry Basil, Minced Meat (Chicken) with Long Beans ($10)is one of the best as it has a strong basil fragrance. I could have only this with a bowl of rice.BBQ Pork Belly ($28) is the other meat dish we ordered. It was succulent and a nice marinate outer coat.The Deep Fried Sea Bass with Mango Salad (seasonal price) was fresh and well fried till golden brown, leaving a nice crisp layer to the bite. With the Mango salad, the dish was appetising. I wouldn't mind eating the deep fried fish alone.Thai Style Curry Crab (seasonal price) was what we chose among the 11 selections available under the “Luxurious Crab” section. It isn’t spicy instead it has lots of eggs and lightly curry flavoured with some Thai spice.
Among the selection, there are 3 other crab dish which was highly recommended by the restaurant, Crab Meat Curry Egg ($18), Basil Black Pepper Crab (seasonal price) and Stir-Fry Tang Hoon with Crab (seasonal price). If diners are keen to eat the Chill Lady Boy Crab (seasonal price), this would require advance order of 2 days.Fried rice is usually a must to complete the meal. As such, we have a Tom Yum Fried Rice ($6). It wasn't a strong tasting dish, instead it has light Tom Yum flavour with seafood.
The other rice option are Thai Style Pork Porridge ($5), Braised Pork Rice Set ($5) and Stir-Fry Thai Basil Minced Meat Rice Set with Chicken or Pork ($5), Seafood or Pork Belly ($6) or Beef ($8).For beverages, there is a good range of the typical Thai drinks such as the Ice Thai Tea 'O' ($2.20), Ice Thai Tea ($2.50), Ice Lemon Tea ($2.20) and Ice Lemongrass Tea ($2). The best part of the drinks was they were lightly sweetened. To me, it was the perfect sweetness level. Other drinks include the Barley, Coffee, Milo, Chrysanthemum with both hot and cold available.

A pity we didn't manage to order any dessert as we were too full to have any.

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Original review on http://www.nahmj.com/2016/03/16/toss-turn-vivocity/


Though I like green, I am not a big fan of salad. This is always the last thing I would choose to have it as a meal. Nonetheless, once in a while, I wouldn’t mind eating clean as such I turned to Toss And Turn Salad Bar By Cedele at VivoCity one fine day. The outlet at ViVoCity looks relatively huge, contributed by the high ceiling. It has a yellow tiles-top communal table. It is kind of in the centre of the space and is surrounded by normal dinning tables and chairs.Since it is a salad bar, the highlight is of course Salad. Either the Regular Salad ($10.50) or with Hot Mains. Diners could get it as a set with either a drink (orange juice or iced tea) or with a small or large soup.And others include the wraps, sandwiches and soup. Since it is by Cedele, you could expect to find the Cedele Cakes. Drinks such as coffee, fruit juice and smoothies (only available at the VivoCity outlet).As Salad is the main draw at Toss & Turn, I dived into the Salad Bar at my first visit. I went for the Regular Salad where I get to choose 1 base, that's the carbohydrates, from a selection of Cous Cous, Rice, Soba and Pasta. Option of greens are either the Green Mix or Baby Spinach.

Next choose 2 Deli. Some options available are olive, tuna, ham, sausages, omelette, goat cheese, smoked salmon.Finally choose 4 veggies or crunch from a selection about 20 options. And 4 dressings to choose from; Honey Mustard, Plum Sesame, Cesar and Paprika dressing.If diner opt for Hot Mains, diner get 1 deli instead of 2 and a hot mains instead. There are 4 options; Peri Peri Chicken, Tomato Beef Balls, Teriyaki Chicken Fillet and Pork Carnitas.The Meatball in Tomato Sauce was lightly tomato flavoured which is good for me since I am not a tomato sauce fan. And it has a nice scent of herb.Peri Peri Chicken was in its natural chicken taste. I couldn't savour much of the savour or herbs.In case, you are interested to know what are my selection for the salad, here it is. All the bowls are pretty similar. For base, I tried it with the Cous Cous, also with Rice and Pasta. Rice was flavourful with wolfberry. Strangely it was a little mushy but yet the grain was considerably firm. Pasta was al dente and tasty with pepper flavour. Cous Cous was in its natural taste.For deli, I chose the Goat Cheese and once the Smoked Salmon, the other was ham. Coming to the Veggies and Crunch, both were the same. I have the Sweet Potato, Alfalfa Sprout, Cranberry and Mixed seeds and nuts. Lastly the dressing. I tried with the Honey Mustard dressing, lightly sour, the Plum Sesame is more sour and the Pomegranate has a good balance of sweet and sour elements while the Island Parika which has a mild flavour. Lastly was the Caesar dressing, which was mainly sourish with a mild creaminess which didn’t impress me.Toss & Turn offers 3 vegetarian and 7 non-vegetarian sandwiches option. The 3 vegetarian sandwiches are Beetroot Burger & Avocado; Kumara, Tofu, Aubergine & Carrot and Mushroom Cheese Melt. The last was what I tried. The Mushroom Cheese Melt ($7.50) was too healthy for me. All the ingredients tasted so natural. There isn't much sauce or condiments to enhance the taste.While the 7 non-vegetarian sandwiches are Rosemary Chicken Sandwich ($8.50), Roast Chicken Avocado ($9.50), Teriyaki Chicken, Eggplant & Cucumber ($9.50), Beef Pastrami, Sauerkraut, Cheese & Mustard ($8.50), Ham, Cheese & Mustard (8.50), Smoked Salmon, Onion & Cucumber ($8.50), Prawn, Avocado & Cheese ($9.50).The Rosemary Chicken Sandwich was rather bland. It seems the chicken used was mainly breast meat. The flavours were contributed first by the mayonnaise spread and largely from the cranberry. It was a healthy sandwich. Diners could get a set with soup by adding $3.50.Each day, there are about 4 selections of soup. I tried the Boston Clam Chowder and on another occassion, I tried the Grilled Pepper Tomato Soup. The Boston Clam soup wasn't creamy but rich with vegetables sweetness and potato flavour but lacking of clam aroma.I thought well of the Grilled Pepper Tomato Soup even though I am not a tomato soup fan. With the grilled pepper added into the tomato soup, the lightly pepper fragrance complemented the tomato flavour to the max.For Tea, I turned to the Cake Set ($8.50). Diner could choose any slice of cake and tea or coffee (black / white). The Carrot Walnut Cake is the signature at Cedele which I always enjoyed.

I like the selections of ingredients for the salad. The salad dressing was the key to increase the taste experience of each bowl of salad. The food provided by Toss & Turn Salad Bar By Cedele was healthy and delish.

My favourite ingredients for the regular salad is Cous Cous, Goat Cheese with any other cold proteins plus dried cranberry, mixed seeds, alfalfa sprouts and sweet potato with pomegranate dressing.



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