For full review - http://midas400.blogspot.sg/2014/02/dinner-at-ambush-plaza-singapura.html

My second visit to this casual european eatery. On my first visit I tried their German sausages and pork knuckle. This time round, I'm trying their pasta dish and the highly popular Belgian mussels pot.For drinks, I ordered a mocktail Green Apple Mojito $5.50++. This is basically fruit flavored syrup and soda, nothing special.Mussels & Clams mixed pot w/ white wine sauce $18++, mussels and clams are air flown twice weekly to ensure freshness. Choice of 3 cooking style (Aglio Olio, Thai Basil & White wine), the white wine sauce contains bacon bits, onion, garlic & parsley. The broth was rather light and flavorful, I can taste the natural sweetness of the plump and juicy mussels and clams...very delish.The Garlic bread (focaccia bread) that comes with the mussels pot (choice of bread, fries or mash potato) was soft, fluffy and garlicky...pretty good but I gotta save my stomach for the pasta main course. Tip, dip the bread in the mussel sauce, its yummy.
Pan seared Norwegian salmon pasta w/ Thai basil sauce $13.20++ (choice of spaghetti, linguine, penne or fusilli). The Thai basil sauce is a tomato based sauce with a tang, I suspect tom yum/lemongrass was added in the sauce. Basil leaves were used sparingly so that it will not overpower the taste of the sauce...very palatable indeed. The salmon was cooked just right, tender and juicy...fantastic pairing of protein and carbo!Ambush impresses me yet again with its high quality food at reasonable prices. Coupled with decent service from staffs, I would gladly return again for more tastes of Europe.

For full review - http://midas400.blogspot.sg/2014/02/lunch-at-putien-food-fair-tampines-mall.html

My friend's food photo posts on FB has awakened my craving for the Braised Intestines from Putien. I have not been to Putien for quite a while, time to check out what's new there!Instead of the usual peanuts, they served a mini selection of crispy seaweed and crackers together with the roasted peanuts. This was yummy and costs $2.50 which is kinda pricey for the tiny portion.Something special at the TM outlet, economical set meals (only available at TM). At $13.90++ each, the set consists of a main course, a soup or side dish and a set of 3 mini appetizers. Customers can top up $1.50++ for a drink (soursop or bayberry juice), pretty good deal I would say.Grandma's Bayberry Tea 杨梅茶 (warm/cold) $1.50++, this was very sourish and sweet at the same time, I like it...reminds me of the preserved bayberries I used to eat as a kid.I ordered Set B $13.90++ which has a bowl of Lor Mee, a slice of Deep fried ikan tenggiri (mackerel fish) and a 3x appetizers set.
This is the first time I'm eating the Putien Lor Mee, its nicer than it looks. The pale colored broth is not the starchy gooey kind, but it was loaded with flavors from the quality ingredients such as pork belly, prawns, clams, dried scallops, mushroom, veggies etc. The noodle has a nice and smooth texture...very yummy.The Deep Fried Ikan Tenggiri was done homecooked style, simple comfort food.The 3 Mini Appetizers consists of Vinegar seaweed, Spicy jellyfish and Braised mushroom. 3 contrasting flavors, all delicious in their own unique way.Last but not least, the dish that I've came here for, Braised Pig Intestines 九转粉肠 $13.80++. Made by hand daily by meticulously folding multiple thin layers of intestines neatly together, then braised in homemade sauce till fully infused with flavor. I love the bouncy and chewy texture...thumbs up!Food and service at Putien was great. I would recommend the economic set lunches to everyone!

For full review - http://midas400.blogspot.sg/2014/02/dinner-at-so-pho-nex.html

With many eateries ceasing operations from Dec last year, new dining concept restaurants started appearing in place of the old ones. The first Vietnamese restaurant at Nex opens its doors early this year selling popular eats from Saigon. I love the modern and brightly lit interiors of this new restaurant.Simple table settings with order chit for patrons to write down their orders and hand them over to the waiting staffs.The menu has a selection of about 60 food and drink items with clear indications of the popular items with a red star, as well as chef's recommendation items. Dishes are rather reasonably priced with most main courses costing approx $9.80++, Viet style baguettes (Banh Mi) are sold at $5.90++ each. There is also one vegetarian option in almost every food category.For drink, I picked the Salty King $4.50++, a plum flavored soda with a ball of salty plum in it. It was sweet and salty and fizzy...not bad at all. Do note that they charge $0.30++ for ice water here (refillable).My main course Grilled Lemongrass Chicken noodle w/ Spring rolls $9.80++, served in a huge peach shaped bowl...portion was pretty generous. The lemongrass chicken was done just right with nice flavoring and juicy tender meat. The spring rolls were good too with yummy filling marinated with Viet spices. The dish also comes with generous portion of fresh lettuce and a bunch of pickled shredded carrot/radish...these provided a good balance to the rich tasting grilled meat. I like it!I also ordered a Sesame Rice Crackers w/ basil leaves Chicken $10.80++ as appetizer, and boy the cracker was huge! The crispy cracker loaded with black sesame seeds was very fragrant even eaten on its own. The minced chicken dip with crunchy peanuts was utterly yummy, I was blown away by its wok hei aroma usually present in well cooked chinese dishes...thumbs up for this dish!I ordered takeaways on other occasions and the food didn't disappoint as well...
Grilled Chicken Banh Mi w/ chicken pate $5.90++. The baguette was soft, not crispy, served with generous portion of tender grilled chicken meat, pickled carrot/radish, fresh lettuce and topped with mayonnaise. I enjoyed munching on this very much.Vietnamese Seafood fried rice $9.80++, it tastes similar to our local sambal fried rice, mildly spicy with fresh squid and prawn meat, quite nice.I'm pretty pleased with this new find at Nex and will be back to try more dishes!

For full review - http://midas400.blogspot.sg/2014/03/dinner-invite-by-m-hotel-cafe-2000.html

My friend Wendy received an invitation from M Hotel to review their Buffet Dinner at Cafe 2000. We fixed an appointment to try their International Buffet Dinner on a weekday (they serve BBQ buffet on weekends).
Cafe 2000 is located at ground level just beside the hotel lobby. There is a direct entrance from the street on the other end with some Al Fresco dinning tables providing an option to dine outdoors.The cafe is not very big but they managed to pack in quite a bit of varieties in their buffet spread. Lets check out the different food stations available here.Fresh Seafood station
Loads of fresh cooked prawns, jumbo raw oysters, mussels, scallops, crayfish and two kinds of crabs. Choice of sauces are available for pairing with the fresh seafood.Sushi & Sashimi
Fresh sashimi and assorted sushi for Jap food lovers.Salad & Cheese station
Good spread of salads and 4 kinds of cheeses.Local Delights Live station
They are serving Lor Mee today, and some awesome looking braised pork knuckles. The ingredients selection for the Lor Mee Live station is pretty good. There's ngoh hiang, prawn wanton, youtiao, fishcake, quail eggs, meat balls and taupok with two choices of carbo (yellow noodle & thick beehoon).Assorted Cooked Food
A variety of local and western cuisine. I didn't take photo of all the dishes as there are quite a number served here.Roast Meat station
Two kinds of sausages, BBQ pork ribs and roast beef.Breads & Soup station
Assorted breads and buns, and two types of soups (western & asian).Desserts
Cheng Teng station, chocolate fountain, fruits, cakes, nonya kuehs, durian puree and ice cream.My food choices
First round, I had the fresh seafood. My fave are the oysters that are plump and succulent, prawns are sweet and crunchy, and the fleshy crayfish was good as well.Second serving, I'm having fresh sashimi, sushi, pumpkin salad, prawn salad and smoke duck breast. All are nicely done and fresh...delish.Next, I tried the Lor Mee from the Live station. I picked quite a few ingredients and chose to eat them with thick beehoon. The fried items were deep fried again till crispy...a delight to eat. The gravy was well flavored and had the right consistency, and I added the provided garlic, chili and vinegar sauce which complimented the dish perfectly...thumbs up.Last round of food before I move on to desserts. Assortment of cooked food I sampled are chicken satay, spicy bull frog, seafood paella (looks like fried rice), and sweet & sour fried fish.Chicken satay was the best, the tender and well marinated chicken meat was delicious. I would've love the peanut sauce to be spicier though. The rest of the dishes were kinda disappointing. Bull frog was overcooked and very chewy, Paella was very bland, Sweet & sour fish was over-fried and tough.
Dessert round, 2 shots of Durian puree, some Cakes and Nonya kueh, Matcha mousse and Cheng Teng. The Durian puree is a must try! Bitter sweet and creamy with lotsa real durian pulp...utterly satisfying to eat. The rest are not worth mentioning.We had an enjoyable dinner here at Cafe 2000. The buffet spread was rather decent, food quality has more hits than misses, service level was within my expectation of a hotel grade restaurant. I wouldn't mind coming back again to try their BBQ buffet.

** this is an invited tasting session.

I usually don't take photos or write blogs about business lunches with vendors as there is lack of opportunities and inconvenient to take photos most of the time. However, this lunch session was different, the vendors themselves couldn't help taking photos of the exquisite dishes served up by this classy restaurant.

We had a party of 20pax and our hosts had reserved the Ruby room which has a gigantic 20 seater table, the largest of the 4 private rooms at Hai Tien Lo. Even the fresh flower center piece was huge!Their CNY Set lunch menu were priced from $988++ onward. We had an 8 course Cantonese cuisine menu including the Yusheng platter.

Yusheng w/ Norwegian salmon, surf clams & crispy fish skin. The yusheng was served on a dedicated table for convenient louhei, with an impressive presentation.The yusheng sauce was very delicious, coupled with the fresh premium ingredient used, definitely one of the best I had for the year of Horse.

Double boiled Buddha jumps over the wall 佛跳墙, a luxurious soup with abalone, dried scallops, bamboo pith and pork ribs. This clear soup was powerfully flavored despite its humble looks...slurp.Steamed Soon Hock in superior soy sauce, fish was fresh and succulent...perfectly executed.Braised whole abalone 三头鲍 w/ dried oyster & black moss. Another chinese delicacy with a huge 200g whole abalone stewed in oyster sauce. The abalone was cooked just right, very tender and juicy...nice!Sauteed Hokkaido scallop & prawn w/ sakura shrimps. The plump king prawn and jumbo scallop were a delight to eat, the crispy savory sakura shrimps added a nice bite to the chunky scallop.Eight treasures herbal chicken, I'm not a fan of herbal anything and couldn't fully appreciate this bitter tasting dish. But judging from the speed this dish was devoured by fellow diners, I figured its good after all..The highlight of the day, Steamed rice w/ preserved meats in mini pumpkin. Now, usually the carbo dish served near the end of a chinese course meal is not the best dish of the meal even if it was very well cooked. But this one really stand out as the most impressive dish of the day! It scored full marks in terms of presentation, smell and taste...色香味俱全.I can already smell the fragrance of the lup cheong flavored rice while it was being served to other diners at the table. The presentation was undoubtedly cute with a nicely etched 福 word on the mini pumpkin. The steamed rice was fully infused with flavors from the chinese pork sausage, liver sausage, wax duck meat, chinese mushroom and the sweetness coming from the pumpkin flesh...thumbs up!

Last but not least, the dessert which consists of two portions, Double boiled hashima w/ ginseng roots, white fungus & red dates and Prosperity CNY cakes.

The CNY cakes 年糕 were pretty good...chewy and fragrant without being overly sweet.However, the luscious Hashima soup was way too sweet for my liking. I ended up scooping out the hashima to eat without drinking the soup. The ginseng roots were very bitter as well. This was perhaps the only disappointment of the day.I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch at the Hai Tien Lo and would highly recommend this place to all who has a deep pocket. The opulent ambiance, top notch service and premium grade cuisine will be worth every penny you spend here.

For detail review - http://midas400.blogspot.sg/2014/02/louhei-lunch-at-hai-tien-lo-pan-pacific.html