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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Full review with photos at http://www.nahmj.com/2016/03/29/rise-and-grind-coffee-co-on-hollerout-app/

An array of food is served at Rise and Grind Coffee Co, from Breakfast & Brunch to The Lighter Side, The Mains, The Burgers and of course the desserts (Sweet Cravings).
On the menu, under The Lighter Side, basically these are finger food or rather snacks, there are about 7 dishes. Out of the 7, 5 were devoted to fries, French fries of different flavours such as Truffle oil & parmesan French Fries ($9), Sea Salt & garlic aioli and Cheeesy Bacon bits. Alternatively, there is Sweet Potato Fries with Mentaiko sauce ($10). If you prefer to have more both the French Fries and Sweet Potato Fries, go for the Two-some ($10).Two other options are the Roasted Garlic Tomato Soup ($8) which we didn’t try, and  ($9) which I thought this makes a good sharing plate and a good way to start of especially a Brunch.

Rise And Grind Coffee Co serves 7 Breaskfast & Brunch dishes till 5pm. We tried 4 out of the 7. That’s more than 50% of the dishes.The first being the Hei Amigo: Our take on Huevos Rancheros ($16) is with Chorizo Sausage, scrambled eggs on tortillas, cheddar cheese, sauteed wild mushrooms, guacamole, tomato salsa and greek yogurt on the plate and pickled onions on top of the dish. We like the combinations.The Goodfella ($16) is such a colourful plate with Prosciutto di Parma, mini sweet peppers, parmesan cheese, sliced radish, pomegranate, olive powder and 2 sunny side up and the sourdough toast is hidden beneath these abundant ingredients.For diner who prefer Smoked Salmon could order the Ocean’s Thirteen ($17). Besides the Smoked Salmon, there are salmon roe, 2 poached eggs and asparagus, arugula, on toast and there are beetroot yogurt and apple cider hollandaise. With the beetroot yogurt, this dish is differentiated from the egg ben from other cafe.Pulled Pork Benedict ($15) is one of the very popular breakfast & brunch dish at Rise And Grind Coffee Co. The pulled pork is said on 2 slices of sourdough toast stack and topped with 2 poached eggs. Apple Cider Hollandaise is drizzled over the dish. I am not a fan of pulled pork but thought pretty well of this dish as the pulled pork wasn’t as sweet and yet flavourful.5 burgers were on available for selection. We tried only The Gold Standard ($18). It has the typical beef patty, bacon, cheddar cheese and differentiated with garlic & chice aioli, and with arugula leaves sandwiched with a brioche bun and a small bucket of fries by the side.
Rise And Grind Coffee Co offerred 7 Mains likewise; with 5 pasta, 1 salad and 1 steak. We tried 2 pasta. And I would like to try the steak the next time.I have read a lot of raving about the Tom Yum Seafood Pasta ($17) but personally, I thought the flavour was too weak. But what I like about the dish is the amount of seafood and the al dente pasta in the dish.Personally, I prefer the Truffled Spaghetti Alla Carbonara ($15) to the former. Thi is rich, creamy, flavourful with nice scent of truffled on the tastebud.No matter after how much food, we will still have space for dessert. We have 2 desserts for sharing; Chocolate Lava Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream and Salted Caramel Sauce and the Sticky Date Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream. Both were equally delish.Some of the beverages we ordered were the White 5oz ($5) and Mocha ($6.50), Matcha Latte (hot/cold) ($6). The rest of the drinks availabe are Tea (hot/iced), Chocolate, Juice and a handful of Draft Beer.Rise And Grind Coffee Co is certainly a great cafe with aesthetically plating that entices the various senses.

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Review with photos at http://www.nahmj.com/2016/03/26/hai-di-lao-hot-pot-313-somerset-singapore/

I have heard alot of raving about Hai Di Lao Hot Pot; the food, the soup and the services and so on. It set me really curious about how good it really is but as I am never a fan of Hot Pot, I drag my feet for a trip to try them out. Until one day, a blogger friend suggested to have dinner at Hai Di Lao @ 313 Somerset. I was gamed for it.We took our queue number at about 7pm. We waited for a little more than 2 hours before we were ushered to the table for our Hot Pot dinner. In other words, if you want to dine at Hai Di Lao, be prepared for a long wait.

The consolation was Hai Di Lao serves some fruits, tibits and drinks to their customers who are in the waiting, some colourful papers for origami, a manicure service for free and a children playroom. One more, free Wifi too.At about 9. 15 pm, finally our table is ready. Hunger pang has kicked in by now.
We ordered 4 different soup; Chicken Soup, Mala, Tomato and the Mushroom soup. Tomato Soup is a highly popular soup at Hai Di Lao Hot Pot. And this was high loved by our group of diners except me. I didn’t like it, perhaps the main factor was contributed to I am not a fan of anything tomato. My personal favourite is the Mala as there is enough Szechuan Peppercorn added that will numb the lips and tongues. Next, I would opt for the . But somehow, I felt that the soup was with quite a lot of MSG. After the meal, I kept feeling thirsty. I am one who is not sensitive to MSG unless the amount added was significant.One point to note, if you find that the soup was diluted after they have topped it up with more soup, do inform the service staff. They are able to increase the concentration by adding some concentrated stock.
The ingredients for the hot pot was of a good mix. There were sliced the usual Sliced Meats; pork, chicken and beef.Various innards were also offered on the menu. Even Pig’s brain was available too. We ordered only the Pig's liver, one of my favourite food.In all Hot Pot, the Fried Beancurd Skin can never be missing. We order the Fried Fish Skin too.I was so glad that it was the Minced Meatballs that was offered instead of the processed meatballs, which I termed it as the fishball and its like.One of the popular item at Hai Di Lao Hot Pot is the Handmade noodles. If you order this, the chef will perform his “La Mian 拉面” skill at your table.I was surprised at the high quality food versus reasonable pricing. And there were lots of what I termed as value added service that were offered free to enhance the total customer experience. It was absolutely awesome. I wouldn’t mind going back whenever I feel like it.
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