See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/11/14/nice-quick-dinner-bk-forture-seafood-old-holland-roa-don-14nov2015/
wife wanted to have dinner at bk forture seafood at old holland road this evening on 14.11.2015.^^
i was worried that the place would be crowded on a saturday evening & hard to park. this place is quite popular with foreigners,
the last time we came with our daughter & basically ordered the same food.
we waited quite a while for the food as there were a few tables of foreigners having their weekend family food outing.
this evening though the corner coffeeshop smok’inn frogz kitchen & bar bar black sheep were quite empty. i found parking along the road. we ordered the thai style fish head & a small hor fun & waited only 5mins for food to be served.
the hor fun this evening was very good!
very good wok hae (aroma). the hor fun itself had very good flavours. there were not much ingredients & the prawns were not the freshest but was good overall. there were couple times i ta pao (take out) home but the hor fun was not great. tonight it was good.
the thai style curry fish head here is the best!
fish head was very fresh. the curry was slight tangy & very tasty.
it’s certainly much better than the similar priced nonya fish head at keng eng kee.
this is a curry fish head i really enjoy. for this evening it was easy & quick & shiok!

My good friends & mei mei arranged a dinner for my wife & i at imperial court restaurant at the grassroots club on 5.11.2015. ^^
i have wanted to try the gimtim group of restaurants but have not done yet, so this suited.
they have a 1/2 suckling pig set for 6. we had 7pax so my friend ordered 2 additional dishes.
the #1 half suckling pig was a large helping. it was much larger than what i had at ah yat & other places like hung kang & summer gardens.
i thought ah yat’s suckling pig was very good but this was equal or better & much bigger portions by comparison.
it was extremely good, very crispy skin & very flavourful, tasty meat. it seemed to be a combination of the 片皮 & 南乳 styles. usually the 片皮 style came with wraps & the 南乳 comes with the meat. my wife & i prefer the 南乳 style.
the next dish #2 (quite poor) fish maw soup though was quite poor.
no comparison like the one at beng thin.
my friend ordered 2 additional dishes=#9 addition sanpei chicken 三杯鸡 dish & ＃10 additional beef dish.
sanpei chicken 三杯鸡 was so-so, maybe below par. the beef was pretty ok, not the very tenderised chinese style beef which i don’t like.
the #3deepfried seabass in thai sauce was very good.
the sauce was not the usual thai sweet sauce (best for deep-fried chicken wings) but a bit tangy.
a very good fish dish by my reckoning.
the #4 abalones with broccoli dish was the usual good standard, with nice broccoli & mushrooms.
i love #5 the steamed scallops. i think they were the best! ^^
usually i prefer steamed razor clams to steamed scallops because usually steamed scallops get overdone (i don’t know why?).
these ones were very tender & sweet & tasty. excellent is the word!
the #6 prawns were nicely done, fresh, tasty & crisp.
i don’t like the sauce though, just overly sweet.
the #7 braised seafood beehoon was very tasty.
& with good ingredients.
reminded me of my own crabless beehoon!
the simple dessert of the day = #8 fruit cocktail dessert with ice shavings was very refreshing.
overall an excellent dinner. i liked the suckling pig & the steamed scallops.
i estimate the dinner to cost about S$350nett, so about S$50nett.
service was very good. the servers took several photos for us & also went digging up a knife & candles for the cake.
it was a really fun evening.a truly wonderful time with close friends & great dinner.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/11/12/wonderful-dinner-treat-by-our-good-friends-imperial-court-on-5nov2015/

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/11/10/very-nice-coffee-coffee-now-here-on-2nov2015/

a friend organised a makan & coffee eat-drink together on 2.11.2015. ^^
first we had the recently buzzing ah hoe meepok at blk 710, clementi west street 2 bu the japanese 18yr old girl & her father.
after a very satisfying bowl of meepok dry & soup, we proceeded to coffee nowhere (or pronounced coffee now here) at west coast plaza.
it’s the singapore outlet of a cafe that started in johore only 2 years back in dec2013. the name is supposed to evoke like when you are lost (nowehre) & then you are found (now here), i guess discovery of a place you have a connection with?? whatever!
they have 4 different ways of brewing coffee etc, and also sells coffee beans, coffee related products & offer barista training.
we were just coming here to relax & chill la! :-)
& the coffee was good! so we make a great find by accident.
it happens to be a monday, and monday happens to be the day with 1 for 1 promotion. we ended up ordering 9 coffees for about S$35, not bad! 

(btw i think the normal price is too ex w/o the one for one & i would not come here as there are so many good cafe places)
i am quite surprised the coffee was really good. my flat white was very smooth & coffee had rich aroma. i had a very good flat white at habitat in upper thomson (my family favourite but just first time for me). we were rushing & bought takeaway so i did not take photos. i thought coffee nowhere was about the same.
the other great coffee place i had good coffee –
chye seng huat hardware coffee bar (CSH)
dutch colony @ pasarbella
carpenter & cook
assembly coffee
of course aeiou &
wheeler’s yard

carpenter & cook has great pastries & assembly coffee has a great lemon meringue pie.
 

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/11/09/kind-of-below-expectations-ginzawa-on-8nov2015/
celebrating an occasion. had 5pax family dinner at ginzawa at palais renaissance on 8.11.2015. ^^
this the same restaurant as sushi kuu previously. there is no change of ownership so it is just a rebranding.
i called & they told me that they serve the donburi items like chirashi don bara chirashi don, wagyu don etc on the set lunch menu for dinner, at the same price but w/o the set, just the donburi + soup.
there was also a S$130 set menu for 2 & omakase priced at S$80, S$120 etc.
we decided not to take the set or omakase, and ordered 2 chirashi don, 2 wagyu don & a A5 saga wagyu sukiyaki.
the S$45 chirashi don looked impressive as in the photos on the menu (& above photos). there was a botan ebi, a bit of uni, akami? (lean toro), tai, maguro, hamachi, salmon belly, hotate, tamago on a huge portion of sushi rice.
first look was great but in actual fact the sashimi cuts & quantity were very much inferior & pales in comparison to those at mikuni & kuriya dining.
mikuni’s chirashi don, also S$45 after 50% feed at raffles discounts, by comparison has 2 chutoro,heaps more uni, & 2 pieces for every quality sashimi cut.
& kuriya dining’s S$62 chirashi sushi zen set, a much larger set than mikuni’s is also top quality with more than double what ginzawa served.
the wagyu for the wagyu don was tasty but the sauce was superfluous & only serve to kill the taste.
& the slices were really thin. it was doable, but nothing great at S$50. i would take the S$88 uni ikura wagyu gon at kuriya dining anytime c/w this.
the S$50 A5 saga wagyu sukiyaki was very poor (completely thumbs down!). beef was overcooked, very small serving & thin, hardly much to eat.
just compare this with mikuni’s kagoshima wagyu sukiyaki konabe. that is S$24 after 50% feed at raffles discounts, less than 1/2 the price of ginzawa! & beef are thick slices & sweet & tasty, the beef & the entire dish & experience is miles ahead of ginzawa.
overall, i would say that ginzawa’s chirashi don was one of the better ones, but totally pales by comparison with mikuni & kuriya dining.
the wagyu don was ok but not worth eating at S$50. i must go try sumiya’s S$30 wagyu don lunch set but i suspect it would be much better.
as for the S$50 wagyu sukiyaki, forget about it.

see my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/11/07/quick-dinner-after-movie-crystal-jade-lamian-xiaolongbao-great-world-city-on-7nov2015/
went with wife to watch the movie “spectre” at gv grand on 7.11.2015.
after movie, we a bit “sian” to go zion road food centre, anyway not much to eat there also (don’t think much of zion road char kuay teow even though it is PM’s favourite), & didn’t feel like driving elsewhere for makan, so went down one floor to crystal jade lamian xioalongbao for a quick bite…luckily just waited 5mins at around 9pm.
we ordered xiaolongbao小笼包, saliva chicken 口水鸡 & beef brisket noodles 牛腩面.
somehow this evening the same dishes didn’t seem as shiok as that at hollandv.
beef brisket noodles 牛腩面. the noodles were very good al dente & 爽口& the sauce & flavours were good too.
the briskets were quite tasty, but both the briskets & overall taste of the beef brisket noodles 牛腩面 was NOT as good as that at SICC, i think quite a bit NOT as good, not just marginally.also both this beef brisket noodles 牛腩面 & SICC’s & in fact all the beef brisket noodles in singapore do not use the 崩沙腩 which i love in hong kong’s 牛腩面, the belly cuts they used in the hong kong beef brisket noodles.
they have layers of collagen 胶 made them very flavourful & gelatinous when braised.
these were the cut of briskets which my friend bought in chinatown market, which i also did after learning from her.
she brought her fabulous 清汤牛腩 to my place for a for a homecooked 16pax 17-course dinner on 26.8.2015.^^
the saliva chicken 口水鸡 always quite good at the hollandv outlet that we usually go.
here it was ok too but somehow this evening like not as shiok as expected.
just not the same 口感 mouth-feel.
always love the xiaolongbao小笼包!
you can see the soup inside the xiaolongbao小笼包. it was very tasty & flavourful as always, the skin thin & the fillings very tasty.
we ordered a second tray of xiaolongbao小笼包.
dinner was S$34nett for 2pax after DBS card 10% discounts.
somehow the food this evening just did not feel so shiok, don’t know why.