a good friend bought me an excellent lunch at tunglok signature @ orchard parade on 30.10.2013. according to the service staff, they wanted to promote their set menu hence they offered palate discounts only for set menus on weekends (i had an excellent dinner set here recently on 19.10.2013), this was a weekday, we could only do ala carte to have the discounts.

ala carte was good too. we ordered the razor clams. this was steamed with the usual minced garlic. the sauce looked a bit darker than light soy sauce. the taste was good, and the bite was almost there though my friend felt it was still a wee bit tough. so it wasn’t perfect but still pretty good.

the lie tong as usual was super! the 1/2 pot was enough for 4pax & we had 2 bowls each.

the star garoupa fillet with brocoli & lily bulbs were ok but missing the very evident wok hae, & the fish was not as firm & sweet as the ones i had recently at tunglok signature branch @ central.

the lobster in 2 ways – the flour gratin part was flavourful & the other was sweet & watermelon refreshing. still, it was not quite worth S$32pax & both my friend & i would go with lobster steamed with superior sauce (上汤局) anytime.

for dessert my friend ordered the durian puree in coconut. i tried a teaspoon of the duran. it was excellent! i had the aloe vera with lime sorbet. it was very good too. i love it! we also had some complimentary 5 juices in a test tube.

it was a very enjoyable lunch! the cost came to S$96 for 2 after 50% palate discounts. they only charged S$1.50pax for tea. we had pu er & tea was good tea too. they should see me around more often.

See full reviews & photos here=http://chefquak.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/lobster-5-course-lunch-for-s22-naked-dining-bar-on-6may2013/

we bought streetdeal vouchers for a Mother’s Day 5-course lobster set for S$22 for our dining quartet lunch. the restaurant is located at Joo Chiat which was notorious for parking. fortunately this time I was able to secure a roadside parking lot a short distance away.

the restaurant was empty through lunch save our 4pax table. they explained that they were worried about the supply of lobster arriving late so they had asked the diners to move their reservations to dinner or another day. looked like we were the only ones who could not be moved. our reward – we had the entire restaurant for our private 4pax tete a tete. we had earlier whatsapp among ourselves not to temper our expectations (after all it was just S$22pax nett) so we would not be disappointed! anyway the lobster tom yam pumpkin soup was good enough for me – it was not super but an ok soup in a fairly good restaurant, not the watery soup of the day or canned soup type.. my 2 friends though found it too salty (after the restaurant replaced the soup they were happy so it must be ok).the lobster roll was ok too, and the sauce was quite nice really. it was nothing special & if anything the skin was really too thick!the main event was of course the lobster tail in creamy homemade pasta (in the top photo). I liked it a lot actually. The lobster was good size (I estimated about 400g to 450g size) w/o the pincers, and very fresh and tasty; & I liked the home-made pasta which was just slightly creamy. This the version of creamy pasta that goes with veal ragout or wild board or duck, and not the very creamy ones that go with carbonara & the Valentino’s lobster in pink sauce (which I also like). good! for the twin desserts, the lava cake had good lava but the choc taste was too sweet & not the best. the creme brulee was interesting – it was a savoury lobster mousse thingy with a nice burnt cream top.
overall, I thought it was really a good deal. the lobster pasta alone would be worth the S$22nett! while the soup, lobster roll& desserts were nothing too special, they were of ok to good quality both in taste & presentation, and not just afterthoughts or to make up the numbers for 5-course.
Looking at the ala carte & set menus,, the prices were also quite average w/o this promotion & there was some credit card promotion where 1 person free with 2 paying adults, so effectively 33% discount. there was just some lingering doubt & confidence level thingy about the quality & consistency of cooking, whether I might try the other dishes outside the current promotion.

See my fullreviews & photos at my blog=http://chefquak.wordpress.com/2013/04/28/fun-relaxed-dinner-bistroquet-pizza-grill-on-25apr2013/

our host for the evening bought 9 voucherlicious vouchers of S$270 worth for S$135 for bistroquet pizza & grill at ARC (Alexandra Retail Centre) @ PSA Building & we were especially keen to try out the 400g porterhouse steak (which looked very alluring on bistroquet’s Facebook photo).
the place had the relaxed rustic ambience for a great chillax & drinking joint (though it was not drawing the crowd even with voucher promotion as we stayed till 9pm closing time and traffic was quite light). we were liking it already, though still suspect about the standard of food. we ordered a caprese (read ca-pri-seh) salad & a funghi pizza to start. the caprese was the usual mozzarella with rockets & tomatoes, light, good actually, and enjoyable.the large (12″) thin crust funghi pizza was good too (they served a white pizza here but we were the old-fashioned lot who loved tomato sauces on our pizza). we ordered a full rack S$28 baby back ribs (1/2 rack S$18) to share, and it was good! fork tender and tasty, well marinated, though some of us would have preferred to have the sauce served separate. and 1 friend liked the purple cabbage with mayo which was too sweet for me.next was the 400g porterhouse – the reason we came for specifically. however it seemed that the office lunch crowd had taken off most of the porterhouse steaks & we were left with 3 porterhouse to share. we had 2 medium rare and 1 medium, served with beef sauce and the chef brought us some chimichurri sauce (taste like pesto sauce) which went well with the steak. it turned out that while the taste was ok the meat was a bit tough on the sirloin side to be considered a good steak. I am not much of a dessert person and we did not expect much really but since we had the coupon, we ordered a chocolate lava cake and a calzone (a turnover which can be sweet or savoury..in fact they serve a foie gras calzone here as a main course item). As it turned out the lava cake was quite outstanding, and the hardened crust containing the chocolate lava was very good in texture & taste & different from lava cakes in other places. the caramelized walnut with ice cream was a good pairing too.& the calzone was so pretty. the dough texture was really good too, crispy on the outside not fluffy but a bit like a pizza dough.
somehow the young chef took a liking for us, and he showered us with 2 more desserts FREE – a panna cotta which was forgettable and a tiramisu, which was again quite pretty in presentation & tasted quite good albeit not enough liquor for some of us. very good indeed & far above our expectations for dessert in a drinking joint kind of place.
we paid in total S$124 (7 vouchers=S$105 +S$19cash), and that included 2 cappuccinos + 4 beers on 1 for 1 happy hour promotion

See my full reviews & photos at = https://chefquak.com/2016/05/31/good-peranakan-buffet-suns-cafe-on-30may2016/
a very good friend bought 10pax lunch at sun's cafe oon 30.5.2016. ^^
i quite enjoyed it. i think the food is quite good.
for me the roast duck was the best, maybe because i had a 1/2 drumstick portion each time for my 2 helpings.
duck was flavourful & the plum sauce enhanced the taste. texture of meat & skin were great.
curry chicken was probably second for me, and i made a good curry chicken myself.
curry was intense & tasty, perfect on the rice & chicken was tender. the breast meat looked slightly overcooked (usually the case & especially in buffet) prawns & sotong
the curry & sotong looked pretty, but sotong texture felt artificial & not right. later i spied another friend having a heap of sotong on his plate. he must have liked it.
i decided to take the prawns for my second helping. it was quite competent actually. prawns were fresh, done well, slightly spicy, good competent la..
chap chai was usual.
kuay teow was good, got wok hae.
din try the prawn fritters.
the kembong fish looked good but was in fact the worst dish for me. tasteless, not sweet. i added some sambal etc but still bland.
the ngoh hiang was pretty fine, especially with sambal chilli added.
i did not take a photo of the kueh pie tee. a friend brought a plate to share. i took one. it was good, especially with the chilli.
the braised belly pork did not look great, looked overcooked & the lean meat looked dried up.
i took a piece with lots of skin & fat. actually it tasted good! & the lean meat was ok.
i tried a second piece on my second helping. ok not so great. a friend thought the meat was too dry not tender.
my buffet plate – second helping
for second helping i heaped some chicken curry on my rice. a friend found it odd i was adding rice (even though it was just 1 tbsp each time). & i tried the sambal (very good) & sambal balacan (ok).
before my second helping, i took a laksa. forgot to take photo.
it was good. not out of this world, limited ingredients, no hum (cockles), shredded chicken etc. the lemak curry was intense & tasty. not as good as weiyi laksa etc, but still quite good.
also tried the pig stomach soup. everyone said very good, and i think it as very good too, very sweet. i took just small amount maybe 3 tbsp, with quite a bit if pig stomach, enjoyed it but did not want to add more.
enjoyed my ice kachang as always.
the cream stuff was coconut cream (wrongly labeled). anyway then i realised i could make chendol too.
so i went back to make chendol la!
thick coconut cream, flavoruful gula melaka, but no kidney beans.
rojak missing the best ingredients like yutiao & taupok. still quite tasty, i think i mixed it well haha, the unripe magoes, guava etc all quite nice la…
the groupon voucher was S$19.90 (i made a check, sold-out currently). anyway the hotel offers S$38 1 for 1, so if you have even numbers, it is not a lot more ex than the S$19.90 groupon.

See my full reviews & photos at = https://chefquak.com/2016/05/26/pretty-decent-lunch-sets-watami-ion-orchard-on-25may2016/
friend arranged to watch x-men apocalypse 3D Imax at shaw lido on 25.5.2016. 3 of us went for the movie.

after the movie, we had lunch at watami.
the stone pot set includes salad & drink. we orderd all 3 & all were good.
a friend had the salmon. i tried. it was very flavourful & of the 3 this the one i liked best, and i did not even have the ikura.
another friend had the pepper beef. flavour also very good.
i did not want to take tis as it looked like th food court pepper lunch, but actually it as very flavourful.
i had the pork stone pot set.
i liked it too.
it had more ingredients than the pepper beef but both were ok with me.
the salad was quite standard, simple but still quite nice.
for the drink, a friend had hot yuzu tea. 2 of us had the coffee which was quite ok.
lunch came to S$43nett for 3 pax, pretty good. anyway my parking already cost more than lunch or 3D Imax movie la…