Full review - http://midas400.blogspot.sg/2015/06/dinner-at-tcc-bugis-junction.html

Last birthday celebration of the month, we are going to enjoy half price dining at TCC using my member birthday voucher. We decided on the Bugis outlet as my friend wanted to buy stuffs from Pandora.

It has been a while since we last visited this branch, the restaurant had been through a complete face lift!As we were all hungry, we placed orders pretty quickly after reading the menus.

Some drink to quench our thirst while waiting for the food to be served. I had the Lychee & Rock Melon Melody, which was sweet and refreshing. My friends picked the Iced Pinktrus Passion Tea, a blend of grapefruit with passion fruit. We have mixed review over this fruity tea probably due to a slight bitter aftertaste from the grapefruit peels, some like it some don't.Next up were the Soup, Salad and Sides.

Baby Crayfish Salad, fresh greens with chunks of crayfish meat topped with chili mayo dressing and tobiko roe. This was as delish as we remembered it to be.Spicy Hot Wings, these were passable, no wow factor though. Crispy Soft Shell Crab, I liked this dish better cos of the tangy dip which goes really well with the crab.My friend's Seafood Escapade soup, no complains from her.My Oven Roasted Spring Chicken, was excellently cooked to perfection, meat was moist, tender and nicely flavored with brown juice. Very good!My friends had pasta, Seafood Aglio Olio which was an all time favorite dish from TCC, and Clack & Clams Crayfish Pasta, lavished with generous amount of baby crayfish and fresh clams. Both were a hit with their diners.We were filled to the brim by the time we're done with our main courses. So we decided not to order desserts. Food and service level here had maintained at expected standards. We will be back again!

Full review - http://midas400.blogspot.sg/2015/06/dinner-at-chop-house-vivocity.html

Second birthday celebration of the month with the hubby. The venue of choice was The Chop House, a spin off from the hugely successful Wooloomooloo Steakhouse, an established HK steakhouse chain. The restaurant was pretty quiet on a Monday evening at 6pm.Sleek and modern interiors with touches of rustic wooden accents at one side, and a more edgy and vibrant colored settings on the other side. Full length glass windows provides an unobstructed view of the harbor-front and promenade.The bar area and tables with inbuilt beer taps.After exploring the menus, we each ordered a drink and a main course, and two sides for sharing.Aussie Punch $8++, soda mixed with passion fruit and mango puree, and Cool Mint $8++, soda with lychee juice and ginger ale. Both drinks were fruity and refreshing.Tater Tots $7++ and Sweet Potato Fries $7++, served piping hot with crisp exteriors and soft mushy centers, very delish. Great choices to go with beers.My Berkshire Pork Chop $33++, coated with Mongolian glaze consisting of Hoisin sauce and black bean chili sauce, served on a bed of sautéed red cabbage. The pork chop was well cooked, meat was tender and easy to cut. However, the thick dark sauce was extremely salty.

Feedback was given to the staffs on the saltiness, they offered to cook another one but I rejected as my stomach could not accommodate another slab of pork chop.Hubby's NZ Grass Fed Sirloin 200g $28++, served with Chips, baked Mushrooms & Tomato and béarnaise sauce. The beef doneness and taste was not too bad.We weren't planning to order desserts but the restaurant staffs offered to serve them on the house, due to the earlier unsatisfactory pork chop dish. So we each picked a scoop of ice cream from the menu.

Dark Chocolate $9++ and Peach Sorbet $9++, both were surprisingly good with dense flavors and smooth texture.Dining experience here was generally enjoyable. The restaurant has got nice ambiance and friendly service staffs, but the food here was lacking the wow factor. I personally prefer the Jamie's just a few steps away from this place. They produce more impressive pork chops at similar price tags, which I feel is worthy of repeated visits.

Full review - http://midas400.blogspot.sg/2015/05/harrys-bar-clarke-quay-openrice-food.html

I was invited by Reka from Openrice to a food tasting session at Harry's newest outlet at Clarke Quay. We will be sampling their newly revamped food menu that was introduced about a month ago. Brought a friend along (cos I don't drink) to also sample their alcoholic beverage.

The Bar has both indoor and outdoor sitting, same as every bar found in the area.The indoor dining area has a British pub style decor, the dark wood furnishing and fixtures exudes a warm and cozy vibe. Great place for friends to catch up over a game of football with beers.Our table, set with a simple bucket of cutlery, paper napkins and plates for sharing food. Everyone at the food tasting gets an Openrice 'door gift' set containing the tasting menu, stationary and a Openrice fan. Our tasting menu for the night...First up, we had a trio of 'Small Plates' appetizer dishes paired with Harry's Premium Lager beer $13++, Harry's signature brew. The crispy Fish Cracklings $13++ served with aioli dip was addictive to eat. While the Harry's Signature Wings ($13++ for 6pcs, $19++ for 10pcs), coated with secret recipe spices and served with homemade chili jam, was fingers licking good. The star of the 'Small plates' had to be the Crab & Potato cakes ($16++ for 6pcs). Packed with generous amount of shredded Blue swimmer crab meat and mashed potato served with Sriracha tomato dip, it was moist and oozing with crabby sweetness...thumbs up.

Next up, we had one dish from the 'Platters' menu, Jalapeno Steak Sliders $13++ for 3. The Mini burgers with tender beef strips and charred bell peppers, served with Jalapeno cheese sauce, were a crowd's favorite.All of the above were best washed down with a pint of Harry's Premium Lager, which was well received by fellow food tasters. Many would have seconds but, we're being served with another Harry's signature, Dirty Harry $16++, to go with the 'Big Plates' a.k.a. Main courses.

A concoction of Vodka, brown sugar and lychee liqueur with a dash of zing from freshly cut lime wedges, served with a sweet canned lychee. As I don't drink liquor, my friend downed both glasses of cocktail and still wanted more...so I guess it was delish!For main courses, we had Chicken Masala $23++ and Crabmeat Spaghettini $23++. The pasta tasted pretty standard though, the crab meat flavor didn't really come through nicely. However, the Chicken Masala dish was surprisingly good. The excellent mix of Indian spices and tender chicken chunks, well infused with spice aroma, had us craving for more. We totally enjoyed dunking the fluffy charcoal bread into the aromatic thick gravy...immensely satisfying.

Lastly, dessert was served. Toffee Apple Crisp Tart $14++, with thinly sliced apple on crust pastry, drizzled with salted caramel sauce and topped with vanilla ice cream. I didn't like this dish as much, the pastry was not crispy and rather chewy to bite. The apple slices and vanilla ice cream was kinda ordinary.Dessert was paired with a sparkling Cinzano Prosecco $13.50++ wine to end the dinner on a sweet note. This Italian bubbly, with enticing aromas of apple and peach, taste refreshing, dry and harmonious, with crisp fruity flavors and a clean finish.

Harry's Bar had wanted to change the perception of it being just a regular bar, a place to go for drinks only. They have put together an interesting menu with good potential. With some slight adjustments to its food recipe, it does possess a formula for success in the F&B industry.

We enjoyed the dinner tremendously. Thank you Openrice and Harry's Bar for hosting us!

Full review - http://midas400.blogspot.sg/2015/05/chabuton-at-tampines-one.html

Chabuton is a successful Ramen restaurant chain from Japan. This casual dining eatery had caused a stir in SG when it first arrived on shore, a perpetual queue is always seen at the first outlet located in Orchard. Now that the initial hype has died down, I finally got to try it at the branch in Tampines One.Check out the realistic wax food replicas on display at the entrance. The restaurant is dressed in simple and no frills decor, with a huge jug of ice water for diner's disposal at every table.The menu here is simple, only ramen and limited choice of appetizers to compliment the ramen dish. Their main selling point is that diners can customize their ramen's done-ness and soup's oil and salt level. For the signature Tonkatsu ramen, there is also a choice of normal size serving or a smaller size junior bowl at lower price.I ordered a bowl of the Junior Tonkatsu ramen $8.30++ and topped up $3.50++ for the Soft boiled egg & Buta kakuni (braised pork belly).The egg was nicely done with runny yolk, and the pork belly was well flavored but not too soft with a little bit of bite retained. As for the noodles, I've asked for less oil, less salt and noodle to be al dente...which was executed to my liking. The soup was thick and flavorful too.

My other side order of Kaki Fry $6++ (oyster fritters) was fresh and juicy, no complains.Food variety here is rather limited though I like that the prices are pretty affordable for its quality. Service level is efficiently quick and no frills. That sums up my dining experience at Chabuton. I would say that this is a great place to drop by for a quick meal before shopping or a movie.

Full review - http://midas400.blogspot.sg/2015/02/louhei-dinner-at-shin-yeh.html

Shin Yeh is a famous Taiwanese restaurant group specializing in fine Taiwanese cuisine. Tung Lok brought in this well known brand name in a joint venture with Shin Yeh, together with an experienced team of Taiwanese managers and head chefs, to bring the authentic taste of Taiwan to SG.

It has been a while since I patronize Shin Yeh, I love their food but they are quite pricey and the F&B scene in SG is constantly offering new dining options distracting me from going back to them. Finally, in a discussion with my fellow sistas for a venue to have our louhei dinner in the year of the Goat, we finally settled on the reasonably priced CNY set dinner at Shin Yeh.Dressed with oriental-contemporary furnishings with views of Clarke Quay and Singapore river by the full length windows, we managed to get a table with river view (upon request during reservation, subject to availability).

Table settings are kept simple but classy.A useful guide for the guests to enjoy their Yusheng the auspicious way!A bowl of shredded Bak Kwa Appetizer was served upon our arrival. It was quite tasty, however it's rather pricey at $5++ per bowl!We placed order for a Set Dinner for 4pax that comes with a Yusheng dish and 6 other dishes at $158++. We also ordered two Ala carte dishes, one which is my all time fave dishes from Shin Yeh.

But first up, we shall do our Louhei before everything else!挪威三文鱼生 Prosperity Salmon YuSheng

The waiting staff helped us with the proper steps of louhei, saying auspicious words while adding the sauces and seasoning to the plate. Once done, we helped ourselves with the tossing of the yusheng for a prosperous year ahead....huat arh!The salmon yusheng was very delish, I liked the combination of sauces which is a myriad of flavors from sweet, sour to savory, and the crushed walnuts added a nice crunch to the dish too. Thumbs up.

Next, we had our two Ala carte dishes Salted Egg Yolk Fish Skin $8++ and my fave Taiwanese-style Pan-fried Pork liver $16++.The crispy fish skin coated with creamy egg yolk was pretty addictive to eat. And the pork liver dish was a crowd pleaser as well. The liver slices were cooked just right with an irresistible juicy and tender texture, perfectly complemented by its special sauce. Recommended!

Back to the set meal, we had the ‘Tan Jia’-style Braised Fish Maw & Shredded Sea Cucumber 黄焖海蔘鱼鳔羹, which was a flavorful soup.Followed by a Taiwan-style Pan-fried Seabass w/ Soya Sauce 酱油鲜鱼煎. The fish was fresh and we liked the fragrant ginger & onion sauce.Poached Savoury Kampung Chicken w/ Spring Onion Oil 葱油咸水鸡. A quarter chicken serving size, lightly flavored with spring onion oil. We find this dish a tad bland though.Poached Seasonal Vegetables w/ Bamboo Fungus & Conpoy 干贝竹笙灼时蔬, an unassuming veggie dish that was loaded with flavors, all thanks to the generous serving of savory dried scallop bits.The star dish of the day, Fried Beehoon w/ Pumpkin 金瓜炒米粉. Quality Taiwan Hsinchu beehoon was used for this dish, the natural sweetness of the pumpkin puree was fully infused into the beehoon during cooking process which resulted in a surprisingly fabulous carbo dish. It was so tasty that we still cleaned our bowls despite already feeling quite full at this stage.And ending the meal on a sweet note, the dessert Glutinous Rice Dumplings in Walnut Cream 核桃露汤圆. Smooth, creamy and not too sweet walnut cream and two morsels of Black Sesame rice balls. It was pretty good.We had a great dinner at Shin Yeh, food quality has been maintained at high standards even after 7yrs in operation. Service is still good but waiting staffs doesn't speak Taiwanese accent mandarin anymore. Price wise I would recommend taking the set meals which are more worthwhile, or you may visit their sister restaurant Shin Yeh Bistro at Square2 (Novena) which has a casual dining concept. They serve a subset of the same menu with a more pocket friendly price tag. Shin Yeh will be a good choice for an occasional splurge on those special occasions.