See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/10/08/good-value-peranakan-buffet-ellenborough-market-cafe-on-8oct2015/
went with a friend, who is an accomplished peranakan home chef himself, to ellenborough market cafe for lunch today on 8.10.2015. ^^
this my second time here this year, after a hiatus of probably 8 or 10 years. never get to use the FAR (feed at raffles) 50% vouchers for many years at this or other FAR restaurants either.
ambience was pretty nice. friend who is more familiar with this place thought it’s usually quite packed & was surprised that it wasn’t.
there was a cold appetizer section with prawns, yabbies, mussels.
prawns was good, i guess quite standard.
yabbies nice to look at & admire. as we know, not much meat & also meat is rougher that prawns, not as fine & sweet.
there was a salad section bread soup & bread.
there were 2 soup – a chinese lie tong type, pork ribs i think & a cream of tomato with basil. i wasn’t too interested so did not take photos.
i tried the lady fingers. pretty ok.
the prawn mushrooms. ok too.
there was only salmon sashimi & some maki sushi.
i started with sashimi, cold appetiser & salad.
didn’t look particularly great, but the salmon sashimi was quite excellent. fresh & sweet & i like the oily belly cuts. ^^
friend made 6 kueh pie tee (you have to add the ingredients onto the hat yourself).
they were nice, good standard.
i think the chinese ramen was the bestest dish!^^
ramen chef made a live demo, whacking the marble top with the flour noodles.
freshly made & rather thick.
but it was super nice! excellent texture, wholesome taste, a super broth to rival any tonkotsu & very tasty meatballs.
i liked the babi pongteh too. just perfect texture & so flavourful.liked the chicken too.
very nice curry, some very fragrant galangal taste & ginger fibre texture.
the hong kong steamed garoupa was also very well done.
problem with buffet – you take a tiny morsel here, and there & your plate & stomach are full.
the sea sumcumber duck was also very good.
duck was very tender, very lightly & nicely flavoured. i had a second helping.
did too for the babi pongteh & ayam buah keluak.
din take the fruits nor the ahborling (sesame dumplings) & most other dessert.
basically took some durian pengat.
they were very good.
usually i go for semi buffet where the main course is an ala carte order like at one ninety @ four seasons hotel or equinox or basilico, like a fine dining main course.
for buffets like the edge or carousel or olive tree (all i mostly don’t really like) or 10 at claymore with ala carte buffet items (which i like), i go for the appetizer & skips most of the main course.
here at EMC, there is very little appetizer to talk about (say c/w one ninety or equinox), fortunately main courses tasted quite well.
best thing was the price. just S$19++pax weekday lunch after 50% FAR discounts, nothing to complain about, and the best thing was that the dishes were really quite good.
& the great ambience, good company & conversation.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/10/02/really-nice-fine-chinese-dinner-xin-cuisine-on-1oct2015/
wife & i went to xin cuisine for dinner on 1.10.2015.^^
though this is a palate restaurant, we had never use the amex palate privileges here before today.
the last time we had a superb fine dining here was 2.5yrs ago on 31.3.2013 for a ANZ set promotion.
in fact, soup looked quite pathetic but it tasted phenomenal!!!
i think this excellent lie tong 例汤 should be offered & served in a nice earthen pot like at tunglok or say lei gardens in hk instead of an individual per portion serving. at the very least, either if it is served per portion, it should be done in a nice bowl instead of a jack’s place kind of soup serving!
must try to do this lie tong at home.
actually the duck & veg were just as phenomenal!
this tea infused duck is the best roast duck i tried!! definitely better than the very nice duck at canton paradise.
the tea fragrance was so lingering! amazing! restaurant manager said it was because the hk chef not only smoked but also marinated the duck in tea.
maybe i will try my tea infused duck again…
this preserved vege with chinese small cabbage & egg plant was super also.
the flavours of the preserved vegetables with the light soy sauce, not salty, was inviting.
a very fine vegetable dish.
the big prawn crispy noodles was great, as expected.
crispy noodles & broth all good.
lobster noodles also good, but broth tasted perhaps just a wee bit not as good.
overall still a very good dish.
i tried my own king prawns braised noodles previously which tasted pretty good too.
this a really nice enjoyable dinner & with 50% for 2pax amex palate discounts, dinner was just S$69.
for me, the dishes were very fine, the soup was wonderful, & the duck quite divine, delicate & lingering tea flavours, and so was the veg. the prawn noodles & lobsters noodles were more ordinary dishes but very well executed, real good class.
service was ok, except at the beginning server took inordinately long time to respond to taking orders (even after acknowledging which already took long time) when there were just 3 tables including our own.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/09/30/good-value-set-lunch-the-white-rabbit-on-30sep2015/
had lunch today with a long time business associate/friend at the white rabbit at harding road, dempsey on 30.9.2015. ^^
this the first time i dined at the white rabbit. there is free parking & the ambience is nice. the restaurant occupied a nicely refurbished old chapel, bright & airy with high ceiling/columns & stained glass windows.
there is a ongoing uob 1 for 1 set lunch promotion till 31oct2015 (tues to fri).
the set lunch menu included the famous dishes like wagyu carpaccio, seared scallops, alaskan king crab tagliatelle, 60hr mangalica pork belly, 36hr short ribs etc.
we had a complimentary roll & butter to start. quite good. restaurant offered additional bread but we declined.
i had the wagyu carpaccio. it was very good, one of the better ones (or best) i had.
there was shaved parmesan & truffle cream, nice truffle fragrance, sweet, great texture.
my friend had the seared bay scallops.
it looked great & he said it was good.
friend also had the alaskan king crab tagliatelle.
i tried a little. pasta was perfect al dente of course. excellent flavours, nice crab sweetness with a bit of bisque veloute, not creamy. i liked the pasta.
i had the 60hrs pork belly. read one of the reviews about this special mangalica pork. for myself i don’t think it was naywhere near a good kurobuta in terms of the flavours & marbling.
pork was very tender from the slow braise, and the skin was crispy (but if it’s only about crispy skin i would prefer the chinese crackling roast pork over this anytime).
the pork overall quite nice though i not much into the white beans & miso broth. i made a tender tasty slow-braised miso belly pork myself so this dish not so wow for me.
friend had the chocolate fondant. came with macaron & ice cream.
i did not try it. friend said it was good. will try next time the molten caramel.
i had the lemon meringue tart.
also pretty ok, nothing special. but for the uob 1 for 1 promotion, the price difference between 2-course & 3-course was only S$2, so i took the dessert.

See my full review & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/09/24/best-omakase-dinner-hachi-restaurant-on-18sep2015/
wife bought omakase dinner at hachi 0n 18.9.2015. ^^
this evening there were only 3 tables including ours. the servers said it is often quite full though.
it’s omakase. still, quite useful to have a kaiseki menu.
#1 we had pork wine infused foie gras terrine.
a good start. very tasty, and putting on all the right expectations. ^^
#2 the uni & botan ebi in japanese corn veloute was simply fabulous.
don’t know if it is fusion, this was a superb combination of taste, the very sweet uni & botan ebi, in a wonderful japanese corn broth with all the flower decorations.
#3 the hokkaido kani (crab) chawanmushi was the tastiest chawanmushi i had.
so sweet, so beautiful!
quite a memorable dish. motivated me to go back & make a chawanmushi myself.
#4 the oyster was large & plump & sweet.
looked pretty too. i slurped it in with most of the jelly.
#5 sashimi moriawase were top quality – chutoro, sawara (spanish mackerel), kinmedai 金目鯛(golden eye snapper), katsuo (tuna), sanma. ^^
chutoro was very good, but i must say the chutoro in mikuni’s matsutake special bento set some days later was one of the best i had.
the sawara (spanish mackerel), kinmedai 金目鯛(golden eye snapper) were all very good.
the katsuo (tuna) & sanma were pretty ok.
#6 the braised awabi was really tender, superb abalone dish!^^
i took it with the liver dip & the sea salt separately, all very good.
they really braised it very well, as well as the very good chinese braised abalones.
#7 the ikura don with toasted sesami was a very small serving of rice with quite a bit of ikura.
all together really excellent!
#8 the best dish (among every best dish) though was the hamo (conger pike eel) shabu shabu, together with the A5 ohmi wagyu that was served next.the soup was just so tasty.
there were chinese cabbage & pine mushrooms.
the hamo (conger pike eel) shabu shabu.
hamo was so sweet & tasty.& the soup was like the very best of dobinmushi i ever tasted! ^^
#9 next we had a palate cleanser – pineapple & ginger sauce.
pineapple was sweet. the sauce was sourish & very appetising.
#10 the ohmi A5 wagyu in the yakimono was just incredible, so marbled, melt-in-the-mouth!^^
superb A5 ohmi wagyu.
the bamboo sheet & the rolled sanma & eggplant were very good also i guess.
but they were quite heavy going & lost in the process of so much excellent food!
#11 nigiri sushi was again tops!
chutoro, and especially shiro ebi & uni were fantastic.
just incredible sushi.
the akamatsu was supposed to be more fatty & marbled. maybe i still not used to the taste & it was marbled, but somehow did not feel wowed by it.
#12 dessert were black beans yuzu jelly, japanese pear, red beans ice cream.
pear was pretty ok, sweet, not sweet like japanese rock melon i guess, haha!
i always liked japanese black beans, the yuzu jelly was pretty refreshing too.
this one of the few dinners that i felt really wowed!

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/09/23/superb-set-lunch-concetto-on-23sep2015/
my RI friends decided to visit national museum & have lunch, so 3 of us met for lunch at concetto @ the cathay on 23.9.2015.^^
another 2 friends joined lunch afterwards, so 5pax.
concetto set lunch menu S$22.90
last time i had the set lunch here was on 10.2.2015.
prices have gone up from S$20.90 to S$22.90, inflation i guess, but for me it’s still a good deal.
i missed the YMCA (that being nearest to concetto & national museum & cheaper parking rates) carpark entrance, so parked at park mall & walked over to the cathay. concetto looks out onto the road, and is bright & airy.
we all ordered the concetto pasta – an interesting chilled capellini dish.
it was not quite the famous chilled capellinin at da luca or gordon grill or of course gunther.
still it was pretty flavourful & unique. & ala carte price is just S$4.90! :-)
i like the previous version – chilled capellini with crab & prawn tartare (tiny morsels) tossed in lobster oil & topped with lobster foam & ikura (salmon roe) – a lot better though.
think they should just revert to the previous version, full-stop!
i pushed away most of the mayonnaise. this drier version was heavier, less refine but still tasty. i had the kurobuta pork cheeks.
it had this impressive squid-ink calligraphy, haha! ^^
the kurobuta was super, melt-in-the-mouth.
& the gnocchi & sauce were very good. this the best dish for me.
we ordered different main courses to share & try.
salmon was done beautifully.
plating & presentation were top class!
with cous cous & pickled shallots, and the tasty & crab bisque pretty foam.
the chicken was good too & nice presentation too.
taste was pretty good, just chicken nothing special out of the ordinary though.
for me, kurobuta was no 1, salmon next & last chicken.
my good friend on the other hand liked the salmon best.
i only tried the pistachio panna cotta here nefore.
this time we ordered the tiramisu. again it was so pretty!
it was kind of deconstructed.
as a dessert, i think it was rather good, and i would order it next time.
as a tiramisu, i think my own tiramisu is much better, both in flavours especially coffee & liquor, & also texture.
the pistachio panna cotta was as good as last time.for a change, i will try the tiramisu next time though.
for me the only complaint was the poor service. the young guy was unhelpful, tidak apa & very poor in his service attitude. towards the end though his attitude improved from poor to ok. think he just needed some service training. the lady server was ok.
the 3-course set lunch was S$22.90, to me great value-for-money! there is a supplement of S$3 for the salmon.