Gave my parents a little treat as I just got promoted. Whenever I run out of ideas on where to bring my parents out for meal, I will hop onto Dr Leslie's Tay blog and do a search on the Chinese food that he recommended. Through his blog, I found this little gem at Jalan Besar.

It offers nice Xiao Long Bao 小笼汤包 at an affordable price!

Sliced Pork Belly with Garlic and Chilli oil (Appetizer) ($4.80) Nice and tender. Thinly sliced such that it seemed that the fats melted in our mouth.自制家乡豆腐
Homemade Tofu ($10.80) Very soft and nice too.小笼汤包
Xiao Long Bao ($6.80 for 8)金牌脆皮锅贴
Pan Fried Dumpling ($6.80)Both the Xiao Long Bao and Fried Dumplings were nicely done. In general, I think the food here was really value-for-money. Recommended!

My colleague suggested going to Pizzeria Mozza for dinner after our trip to the ArtScience Museum. Initially, the rest of us were quite skeptical as we thought he was joking, to dine at a celebrity chef restaurant at Marina Bay Sands. However, it was for real. We then thought, since it was our pay day, why not gave it a try?

The restaurant was very crowded but luckily, there was no queue forming yet. The environment was quite dim but very vibrant. Compared to the high class sister restaurant next door, Osteria Mozza, this restaurant is more casual. We felt very relaxed and comfortable in there. Their table mats were very interesting, all having different designs, some with quizzes, for you to ponder before your meal is served. Many of the words in the menu were in Italian, and we couldn't quite understand. We asked the staff to translate and explain to us the names. They were very willing to help us and always served us with a smile. At first, we were attracted by an item in the menu, ie fried pig's ear and we actually ordered that. unfortunately, the item was not available.

Since this restaurant's specialty is their pizzas, we definitely had to order that! They have so many different pizzas and the price ranges from $24 to $37. We were seriously spoit for choices. There were 5 of us and the staff told us to get 3 pizzas first, should be suffice. We ordered friend potatoes with rosemary and chickpeas, and also mussels for our sides. The potatoes tasted really good but the mussels were quite small. We loved the sauce that came with it though.Complimentary crackers were served to us in a brown paper bag before our dishes were served. Nice gesture!Funghi Misti, Fontina, Taleggio, Thyme ($30)
Generous fillings of a variety of mushrooms with herbs. Lovely!Bacon, salami, fennel sausage, pancetta, tomato & mozzarella Pizza. Definitely a hot favourite for carnivores! A galore of meat! ($37)Pizza alla benno: Speck, pineapple, jalapeño, mozzarella & tomato, really nice as well. ($35)All the pizzas tasted so superb! I would definitely come again with other friends or family members to try out the other types of pizza here! Moreover, it was affordable. Each of us paid only $32 for the great meal.

I bought a loaf of banana cake during my previous visit and it was one of the best banana cake that I ever had. Thus, this time round, I wouldn't want to miss the chance to get a loaf of banana cake back. One loaf of banana cake cost $10. Some may feel that the price is a bit too steep for banana cake but I can reassure you that the quality is really there. With no artificial flavouring, the banana cake was really delicious! They also have half a loaf at $5.Don't forget to try this when you are at Bollywood Veggies!

Our first visit to Shin Yeh, a Taiwanese restaurant under the Tung Lok Group. I had purchased 2 vouchers from Groupon at $15 each for a value of $30. I made a reservation for two at 8pm. We reached there early, at around 7.20pm and decided to try our luck, hoping there was a table for us.

We ordered a pot of Eight Treasure Tea ($12). The staff were quite attentive and they would refill our cup with tea regularly.

Pan-fried Pig’s Liver with Coriander 煎猪肝
Large portion of Liver! This was really delicious! Must try!Sweet Potato Porridge ($1.50) was smooth.

We also ordered Poached Savour Duck in Boullion which was quite tender and nice.

Pan-fried Turnip Cake 正宗菜脯蛋
Not too sure how many eggs were used but it was fluffy with the saltish crunchy dried turnips, perfect with a bowl of plain porridge. Again, the portion was quite big for two person.We were given complimentary mochi after our meal.

Total bill was around $80+. With the Groupon coupon, we topped up another $20+. So on average, it was $25+ per person.

Something to note: The restaurant is located directly above a pub. At around 9pm, you will start feeling the slight "tremor" of the ground which might spoil your dining experience there. So try to be there early!

I attended my first OpenRice Food Tasting session at Brewbaker's Kitchen & Bar (managed by JP Pepperdine), together with my friend, Sam. Brewbaker's Kitchen & Bar had just revamped their whole menu, incorporating both Western and Japanese dishes. Residents nearby can now get to enjoy Japanese cuisine at this location, away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

How to get here by public transport? Recommended Route:
- From Sengkang MRT Station, transfer to Sengkang LRT Line.
- Board the Sengkang West Loop LRT and alight at Farmway Station.
- Take a 5 minutes’ walk over to Anchorvale Community Club

We walked down a flight of steep staircase to the basement, nearer to the sports complex side, and saw the restaurant at the end corner.

Sashimi Caesar Salad
($12.80)
Tossed assorted lettuce with caesar dressing, topped with garlic-herb croutons and raw fish. Wasabi sauce was served in a small dipping bowl and you pour the amount of sauce according to your liking. This was quite a refreshing appetizer with all the crunchy lettuce, blended with the raw fish cubes and wasabi sauce. Carbonara Udon
($12.60)
The chef explained to us that this was a fusion dish. The home-made udon was also very different from the thick ones that we normally have. Their vesion of udon was long and much thinner, but still maintained the springy texture. Served in a rich creamy sauce with crispy ham bits and an onsen egg, this was really "oishii"!Kinoko Pizza
Japanese Styled Mushroom Pizza
($12.60)
The pizza texture was like that of soft bread. Eating this pizza, was like eating a piece of bread topped with mushroom, mayo and fish flakes. Would give this a miss the next time.

Unagi Roll
(3 pieces for $12.80)
My friend, Sam requested for unagi roll as during the tasting session, there were a number of beef dishes she couldn't take. I didn't try this but Sam said it was very good. Could tell from the presentation, it looked quite tasty with thick slice of unagi wrapped over avocado/ crabstick and omelette sushi.N.Z Beef Rib
($21.00)
I think this dish should be meant for those with huge appetite. The beef rib was huge and I took a small slice, it was quite tender but the taste was a bit overwhelmed by the sweet BBQ sauce.Beef Shabu Shabu (2 paxs)
($28.60)
This was one of my favourite dishes for the night. I love to swish the meat back and forth in the boiling broth. Do not throw the meat inside the soup for too long otherwise it would become tough and spoil the taste. I took 2 pieces of the sliced beef and cooked them just right, very juicy!Matsu Sushi Moriawase
6 types of sushi ($31)
I tried a salmon roe sushi and a sweet shrimp sushi. The sushi were fresh.After we were done with the above main courses, we proceeded to the outdoor seating for Yakiniku! Why outdoor? The main reason was to prevent the restaurant interior from having the smokey smell and also, to enjoy better ambience doing our grilling outside. We all had fun "BBQ"ing alfesco in the cooling weather.
Pork Belly Yakiniku - Pork belly on Charcoal grill
($12.80 for 1 pax)
Our table got a plate of sliced pork belly. They were thinly sliced and would get overcooked quite easily. I took a few slices of the pork belly and they were rather tough. We were worried that the pork slices were not cooked totally and grilled them for too long and sometimes, we were busy taking photos and forgot to flip them over. Ribeye Yakiniku (BBQ) ($32.80)
The other table had a plate of beef slices and I took one cooked slice from them to try. It was quite a thick slice but the meat was tender and juicy. I would recommend this!

Marble Cheesecake in a chocolate cup - Served with mixed fresh fruits and chocolate sauce
($6.50)
The cheesecake was uniquely presented inside a chocolate cup and it was wiped off by the four of us very fast. The texture of the cheesecake was soft and not too dense. I tried to break the chocolate cup with my fork and spoon but failed. It was very hard and thus, we didn't eat the chocolate cup. I suppose it was meant to just hold the cheesecake inside nicely.

Thank you OpenRice for the invitation and looking forward to more food tasting sessions with them in future!

For more photos and detailed review, pls visit: http://www.ylyn-journal.blogspot.sg/2013/11/openrice-food-tasting-brewbakers.html