For full review - http://midas400.blogspot.sg/2014/12/afternoon-tea-at-antidote-fairmont-hotel.html

It has been a while since we last had hi tea on a leisurely afternoon like this, sipping tea/coffee and catching up with sistas over delicious nibbles. So here we are at Antidote, Fairmont's new snazzy cocktail bar by the lobby to enjoy their new Afternoon Tea menu.They have beautiful crockery sets for afternoon tea, perfect for the ladies! The Afternoon Tea set $38++ ($75++ with a glass of champagne) comes with a choice of beverage (free flow), from a selection of premium TWG Tea, Gourmet Coffee and Chocolate drinks. I had the Hot Chocolate, and it was good!TWG TeaHot ChocolateCappuccino

The food menu has 3 variants, Antidote tea with Black truffle scrambled eggs & butter toasts as starters, while the Oriental tea has a 3pcs Dim sum set (Shrimp har gau, Chive dumpling & Scallop siew mai), and the Regal tea ($75++) has the Smoked salmon w/ caviar, blinis, crème fraîche for starters. The rest of the sweets and savories are the same.

Two of our sistas picked the Scrambled eggs, which comes nicely presented in an egg shaped holder with the egg shell intact. Feedback from them, the egg was very creamy and toast sticks were a tad oily if eaten alone w/o dipping into the egg mixture. Overall still quite nice when taken with the aromatic black truffle.I am not a fan of creamy buttery stuffs so my choice is the Oriental set, and the handmade dim sum morsels stuffed with premium ingredients were superb. The bamboo basket was served on a pretty Jap style tray...cool.When we're done with our starters, the waiting staffs then serves up the most anticipated Sweets and Savories tea set in an exquisite white leather jewelry chest. At the top of the chest is a reflective mirror duplicating every hand crafted item into two, an extremely genius way of presenting intricately made desserts. Hidden in the individual drawers were savory finger sandwiches & rolls, scones, pound cakes and cookies, all laid out in an eye pleasing manner. Photo taking frenzy ensues...Let's check out what's available in the chest for tea!

On the top

Strawberry gateau, raspberry, lychee pearl

Apple delight, almond crumble

Karukera chocolate mirror tart

Earl grey éclair

Antidote rum baba

Chocolate-dipped strawberries

Handmade truffles

Yuzu macaronsThe desserts are almost too pretty to eat, I personally liked the Karukera chocolate tart, Strawberry gateau cake, Apple almond crumble and Chocolate-dipped strawberries. The rest are not as impressive as they look, especially the Antidote rum baba and Yuzu macarons were way too sweet for my liking.First drawer

Smoked salmon, crème fraîche, caviar

Boston lobster roll, herb mayonnaise

Cucumber and dill salad, cream cheese

Prosciutto, onion jam, aged cheddar

Coronation curried chickenThe savories were better, other than the Cucumber sandwich with cream cheese which I don't eat, all of the rest were really delish, and my fave was the mini lobster roll.

Second drawer

Warm raisin Scones & Candied ginger Scones and Lemon basil pound cakes.The ginger scones were a nice change from the usual ones we see from regular afternoon tea, the ginger fragrance lingers on the palate a little, quite a delight to eat even though it was buttery, I musk the smell with the tangy lemon curd and yummy strawberry jam. The Lemon pound cakes were great but rather sweet though.The last drawer contains Homemade strawberry jam, Devonshire clotted cream & Lemon curd to compliment the scones, and two individually wrapped cookies for takeaway.Although the food are not replenishable, one set is enough to fill a regular lady's stomach, all of us were feeling very full at the end of the tea session. At $38++, this is one of the more wallet friendly afternoon tea in town. If you like more sweets than savory, I would highly recommend this place, else I would suggest my current fave afternoon tea place, The Landing Point (Fullerton Bay hotel) for a more balanced sweet and savory mix afternoon tea menu.

Full review - http://midas400.blogspot.sg/2014/11/dinner-at-hai-di-lao-hotpot-clarke-quay.html

Another birthday celebration with evil sista. This time, the birthday girl wanted to have steamboat. So here we are at the hugely popular upmarket steamboat restaurant chain from China. We visited the original branch at Clarke Quay.Take lift here to level 2

This restaurant is well known for its extra services provided on top of premium quality food. Free snacks & drinks, manicure, magazines, kids playroom etc. to ease the waiting time blues as queuing time can be long during peak periods.Waiting areaFruits, drinks & dessertManicure service

We had a reservation, so we didn't get to experience those extra services and was ushered swiftly to our table inside.

The restaurant is quite dimly lit inside. Tables are generally smallish in size and not really catered for large group dining. Our party of 8 adults and 3 kids have to squeeze at one of these square tables. The space around the hotpot on the table is so limited that most of our food were not placed on the table but on a trolley at the side. Good thing is that the serving staffs were all quick to serve us whatever we wanted to cook. They even peeled the prawns and de-shelled cockles when we're ready to cook them.Mala & Chicken soup $22++

The restaurant provided a wide range of condiments and sauces to go with the food. Free flow starters, fruits and dessert are also offered at $4++ per pax. And free flow beverage (Liang teh, Sour plum juice & water) at $3++ per pax.Fruits & saucesDespite having a small table, we still ordered over 20 servings of fresh ingredient to be cooked in the hotpot. A glimpse of what we had for dinner...Pork belly slices $16++Beef slices $18++Fresh prawns $10++Luncheon meat $8++, Tender chicken $12++, Crispy fish skin $8++ & Crab sticks $8++Pork, Prawn & Sotong pastes $22++Enoki mushroom $7++, beancurd skin $6++ & quail eggs $6++Cabbages $4++ & Tanghoon $6++Fresh cockles $8++

We also had 3 portions of the Kungfu noodles 功夫面 $4++ where the staff would perform the pulling of flour dough into noodles by the table side. Photo taking time!The end product was super springy noodles that was a delight to eat...slurp!Kungfu handmade noodles $4++

At the end of the meal, we tried the fruits and soya pudding which were very delish. The serving staffs also presented a complimentary fruit platter for the birthday girl.Hai Di Lao definitely provided great services inline with their reputation. Serving staffs were always prompt and attentive to our needs, soup and drinks were constantly refilled, different size plastic bags to protect the mobile phones, aprons for diners, bag covers and hot towels whenever they saw a need to use them. They are always checking with us if we needed anything. Food wise, ingredients are undeniably fresh and of good quality with a huge variety to boot. Coupled with the unparalleled services (for steamboat restaurants), it was really worth the extra dollars paid.

Full review - http://midas400.blogspot.sg/2014/11/saboten-at-t1-changi-airport.html

We had our dinner here just before we depart SG for our Swiss holiday. Saboten is one of the most successful Japanese Tonkatsu chains with over 500 shops in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Canada.Table setting with various condiments and the menu.There's an ongoing Scallop feast promo but we decided to eat something else from the main menu. I had the Chicken Katsu Supreme set $22.50++ which consist of Chicken katsu, Pork tenderloin & Ebi fry. All set meals are served with free flow cabbage, steam rice, miso soup, pickle, appetizer and dessert.Both the chicken katsu and pork katsu were very nicely done with light and crispy crust and tender juicy meat center. The ebi was fresh and succulent, a really delish set meal, living up to the eatery's reputation.Matcha ice cream

The accompanying soup, pickle, appetizer and dessert were all pretty yummy too. The free flow raw cabbage was fresh and crunchy, giving a good balance to the fried items in the meal.

Hubby had the Salmon Variety set $23++ which consist of Salmon katsu, Asparagus cheese roll and Crab cream croquette.The salmon was fresh and cooked just right, meat remains moist and tender despite the frying process. Hubby was also very happy with the creamy croquette and cheesy asparagus roll too.

We had an enjoyable dinner at Saboten. Food was good and reasonably priced, and service was prompt and polite. We'll definitely dine at Saboten again, but probably would choose an outlet in town area as the airport is out of the way for us.

We had a birthday celebration with our evil sista at this medieval themed restaurant. This place is located at level 3 of Vivocity (opposite Daiso). It has both indoor and outdoor entrance, the outdoor facade is much grander with two armored knights guarding the 'castle' doors.The diner was dressed in Halloween theme during the month of October. The interior of the restaurant is furnished with custom made tables, chairs and benches, and more armored knights with swords and shields. The restaurant also boast a scenic harbor view for diners sitting by the full length glass windows.Simple table settings and the menu.Some of us ordered drinks first while we take our time to explore the extensive menu. Most of us had the Bottomless drink $7++ (free flow Coke, Sprite, Fanta grape, Root beer & Ice lemon tea).Bottomless Fanta grape $7++ & Tropic zest $7++Apple juice $5++

We ordered a few sharing platters of Starters Combo sets and one main course each. The food serving were rather huge, we indeed feasted like Kings and Queens for this birthday lunch!Platter C $24.90++Platter A $21.90++Platter D $26.90++Caesar salad $13.50++

The starters were good, I especially liked the Banana bacon bites and the Prawn twisters. The Mussels and Scallops in Platter D were also super fresh. I didn't touch the Caesar salad though as it was covered with loads of cheese.

For main course, I had the Pan Fried fillet of Snapper $23.90++. The chunky snapper fillet was crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, very tasty! The roasted potatoes were a nice change from the fried version on the other dishes.Other main courses ordered were Beer Battered Fish & Chips $21.90++, Roast beef & BBQ ribs $35.90++, Dragon tail Aglio Olio $19.90++ and Seafood Marinara $25.90++.All the main courses were huge, even the caesar salad was served in a gigantic bowl. Some of us didn't managed to wolf down everything on the plates. Food was generally yummy, ingredients were fresh and well prepared. I find the menu a little too meaty with very few selection of non meat dishes. Service was good as the diner was quite empty during lunch hours. Overall, it was a nice dining experience.

Full review - http://midas400.blogspot.sg/2014/11/lunch-at-king-louis-grill-bar.html

Full review at - http://midas400.blogspot.sg/2014/10/dinner-at-beng-hiang-restaurant.html

Impromptu dinner with evil sistas again, they knew I had cravings for Asian food due to the lack of it during my recent vacation. So we're heading to Beng Hiang Restaurant for some traditional Hokkien cuisine.

Located just a short stroll away from the Telok Ayer station on Downtown line, Beng Hiang is housed in an old school restored shophouse along Amoy street. The interiors are deliberately designed to look traditionally Chinese.Table setting and menu.We ordered some of the most popular dishes served here, and we started the meal with a thick soup, Fish Maw Soup (M) $40+. The soup was loaded with ingredients, they were very generous with the amount of fish maw used in this soup, needless to say it was incredibly flavorful. Recommended.Ngoh Hiong & Hae Zor (M) $16+, the must order Hokkien staple on every table. However, none of us find it nice, it just tasted really ordinary like those sold at economic beehoon stalls. The Hae Zor (prawn roll) doesn't contain crunchy prawn bits and the Ngoh Hiong lacks fragrance and flavor. Quite disappointed with this dish.Kong Bak Bao (S) $16+, the saving grace came when this dish was served. The Kong Bak (braised pork belly) was super soft, tender and well infused with flavor. The bao wasn't the fluffiest I've eaten, but was acceptable.The star dish of the day, Crispy Roast Chicken (whole) $30+. The chicken was roasted to perfection with delightful crispy skin and moist succulent meat. Serving portion was huge too.Another star dish of the day, Crispy Oyster Omelette (M) $20+. The oysters were fresh and juicy and the omelette was expertly executed, very crispy and yet not greasy...thumbs up!Stir fried Broccoli w/ Scallops (M) $30+, this was delish too, very hard to go wrong with fresh chunky scallops and crunchy broccoli.The Traditional Hokkien Noodles (L) $16+, the second disappointment of the day. A reputable Hokkien restaurant that cannot deliver a tasty Hokkien Mee was unacceptable. Noodles was kinda soggy and sticky, and the dark sauce was seriously lacking in flavor! I wouldn't order this again.Lastly, we're served a small portion of their complimentary dessert, Beancurd skin & Barley sweet soup. It was overly sweet, I added water into it to dilute the sweetness. Not nice.Despite having two of the traditional dishes failing us, we still feel Beng Hiang serves pretty decent Chinese food that is also well priced for a restaurant situated inside the CBD area. The serving staffs weren't really very smiley but we couldn't complain when they don't charge the 10% service charge right?