See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2014/12/28/love-this-place-assembly-coffee-on-28dec2014/
son is back for 2 weeks winter break, & i am having more coffee breaks than i had for the whole year. :

this time we had sunday brunch – roti prata at S.M.Aisha & teochew cold crab at di wei teochew restaurant at food canopy at botanical gardens.

afterwards, we walked over to assembly coffee for a cuppa on 28.12.2014. assembly coffee is a nice cool place to chill. we had 2 flat whites, a cappuccino & a cafe mocha, plus a lemon meringue.

the young lady barista created a beautiful, delightful swan latte art on the cafe mocca. it looked so easy… the coffee & milk micro-foam were smooth & nice flavour.

daughter ordered a lemon meringue. it was very nice. lemon was tangy not too sweet & combined well with the biscuit crust & cream. i think i can make this one. so definitely try it at home. ^^

i will put this on par with chye seng huat at tyrewhitt road & dutch colony at pasarbella @ grandstand turf club road, with the advantage that it served a really good lemon meringue. i will also try the waffle & the salted caramel nut cake? next time.

My buddies organised a belated birthday dinner for my wife on 19.11.2014. :-)
the place was tunglok signature at central, the same place they did a birthday dinner to remember for me last year.

my friend’s god sister again pre-ordered the food. & she arranged the wine & cake too. :-)
we had the roast pork (烧肉), which was really excellent. skin was very crispy & the texture & taste was marvellous, & not too fatty.

the double boiled soup (炖汤) with sea whelk, black garlic & chicken was super too. this 1 of few soups that could match & better the very good lie tong (例汤) here. very sweet & tasty.
we had the spinach tofu (三层楼) with shimeji mushrooms & broccoli, which is another signature dish here. it was very good. 

next was a salted egg cod fish fillet. it was very well done. cod was very good. for me & also my wife though, the dish was deep-fried & even though it was done well & not very oily, it could not match the simple steamed cod with mui choy (梅菜)。

likewise wasabi mayo prawns was well done & nicely presented. it came with mangoes & salad. presentation was superior to peach garden’s yuzu prawns. taste wise peach garden’s equally good. yuzu taste was great & dish better w/o the mayo.

there was a miscommunication with the server. we thought there were 7 dishes & waited for the noodles & dessert. but it turned out that friend’s god sister arranged 5 dishes & instructed the restaurant to take our orders for the carb & dessert.

anyway we were really full with the 5 dishes & there was also the birthday cake, so we decided to skip the carb & dessert. just as well!

tunglok provided a complimentary salted egg longevity bun (流沙寿桃) & after signing the birthday song, the servers recited the the 生日快乐十全美 verses. service was excellent! they also provided complimentary star fruit juice. 

the cake was a nutty chocolate banana from swissbake. i liked the cake though could not taste the nutty part.

it was a very enjoyable, memorable evening.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2014/11/23/wifes-belated-birthday-by-my-buddies-tunglok-central-on-19nov2014/

In search of good chirashi don. :-)

My friends and I decided to meet for lunch at sumiya, level 12 orchard central on 13.11.2014.

T thought it might be the previous kuirya penthouse location, & it was. anyway sumiya is owned by the same RE&S group, which owns kuriya dining & also ichiban boshi, kuishinbo etc. The photos of the lunch set, in particular, the chirashi don looked exciting. & it was.

It came in a set with chawan mushi (not so good)the, a ponzu salad, miso soup & a mochi, quite similar to ginza kuroson. :-)
the chirashi don was excellent. 3 fish (salmon, tuna & hamachi) cube-cut sashimi & heap of ikura & avocado. the sashimi were very fresh & sweet. the vinegared rice was very good. the cube cut made it looked like bara chirashi. this were quite big cubes though, really good sashimi. vinegared rice was very good too.
2 other friends ordered anago don & fish of the day (maybe amadai?). forgot to take photos.
there was a shelling fee of $5. we of course decided to D-I-Y! :-)
i never knew amaebi looked kind of anaemic & unappetising with shell on. but they were good, very fresh & sweet when shelled & eaten, like any good amaebi. :-)
overall i was very impressed & would certainly come back for more.
this S$18.80 chirashi don set was definitely superior to the S$25 barachirashi don set at flying squirrel (no comparison i think), better than the S$17.90 chirashi don lunch sett at tonkichi (also no comparison).
i can’t decide if this is better than the S$20 chirashi don set at ginza kuroson! i think both were equally good, and though kuroson had better fish cuts, this one was really very enjoyable.
with tatsu, though it was not quite like for like, but as an overall dining experience, i think this set was more enjoyable than the S$40 expensive chirashi don at tatsu.
with chikuwatei & momoya, this quantity was smaller, but hey the flavours & freshness were better even.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2014/11/13/very-good-chirashi-don-set-sumiya-on-13nov2014/

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2014/10/19/good-5-course-dinner-ah-yat-abalone-forum-restaurant-on-18oct2014/

had 3pax dinner at ah yat abalone forum restaurant at hotel grand pacific last evening on 18.10.2014. 
#1 the soup was good. the lobster claw was quite tasteless, but the soup stock was good & tasty. i felt that the cooking here at ah yat abalone was generally better than the other ah yat outlets.

#2 braised abalone & mushroom in brown sauce was very good. abalone was 2in size & had excellent texture & bite. the brown sauce was excellent!

was not expecting much with the #3 fish fillet japanese style but it was good. fish was firm & bouncy & batter was good. the sauce was just right & not overpowering.

& i finished the entire #4 braised yee keen noodles despite my usual low carb preference, meaning it was good. very tasty for a plain vegetarian dish! excellent! 

desssrt was a #5 bird’s nest in almond cream. it was competent but bird’s nest does not register much with me, non descriptor. almond cream was smooth. maybe i would be able to taste the smoothness better w/o the bird’s nest.

for this dinner, i bought 3 S$28.80pax groupon vouchers. there was a S2.50pax cover charge for tea & towels & a S$3 charge for peanuts (both compulsory charges whether you took or not), which came up to S$12.95. so in total we paid S$33nett pax for the 5-course dinner. quite a good deal.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2014/09/25/great-suckling-pig-set-summer-garden-safra-mt-faber-on-24sep2014/

a friend organised the sep2014 G20 12pax dinner at summer garden SAFRA Mt Faber on 24.9.2014.
the restaurant was empty save our table + 1 other table, like 10% occupied. it’s a waste really as the food was good & service ok.
the friend ordered the S$398 10pax suckling pig set. guess it was upsize to 12pax & we paid for 12pax, though some dishes like suckling pig was same size whether 10pax or 12pax.
#1 suckling pig was not good, not better than hung kang or chui huay lim, but it was good, crispy skin, tasty. one friend commented no strong taste, not that i would mind a good porky flavour. 
#2 dried scallop crab meat sharkskin had good tasty stock & chokeful of ingredients. couldn’t say it was better than hung kang (which sharkskin fish maw soup was very tasty), but it was very good.
#3 roast chicken was one of the best – very crispy skin & nice tender meat, tasty with the five-spice salt. as good as roland & better than yuanxing.
#4 deep-fried soon hock good, very competent, as in most restaurants. wonder if it was 10pax would be be still 2 fishes. soon hock tended to be quite standard 600g size so not sure for 10pax they could find 1 larger soon hock or same 2 fishes.
#5 the wok grilled king prawns (13/15) was good. king prawns were large, 13 to 15 pieces per kg so 70g to 80g per prawn. i would consider this better than the white cereal prawns at hung kang.
#6 the abalone dish came with lots of ingredients – flower mushrooms, fish maw, sliced abalone, spinach. this dish would be superior to hung kang which had a bailing mushroom dish.
#7 and my bowl of seafood heng hwa beehoon really chokeful of prawn, squid etc not sure if the rest got the same.
the beehoon was not tasty enough though, and did not have clams so not quite qualified as heng hwa beehoon?? perhaps the sauce was not mixed thoroughly, but the authentic heng hwa beehoon a friend cooked recently at his house was tastier than this one.
#8 bird’s nest with rock sugar was very good, not too sweet. i liked it, surprised me actually!
for me, the S$398++ suckling pig 10pax promotion menu was quite a good deal. i am likely to go back for a family dinner. :-)
price wise it was cheaper than hung kang’s S$468++ “birthday” suckling pig menu. hung kang had the more expensive pomfret, but depending on taste, some may prefer the soon hock.