Known as one of the top buffet restaurant in Singapore, Carousel is a place to try for foodies in Singapore. So when LD suggested this place, I agreed in a heartbeat.

Carousel is only a handful of high end International Buffet Restaurant with Halal certification. They served food ranging from Mediterranean, Asian, Japanese fare, a lavish seafood spread, French Rotisserie, and three dazzling dessert stations.As it was a Friday night, the restaurant is basically pack full of people. If you are trying your luck to dine without reservation, well your chances are very low. We went through lots of 'channels' to get our reservations.We started our degustation buffet from the seafood selection; which offer lobsters, crayfishes, Alaskan crab legs, spanner crabs, mud crabs, oysters, mussels and prawns. All the seafood are chilled and fresh, especially the lobster and prawns. This is my second encounter with spanner crabs, and I can confirm my dislike for it as the meat is rougher compare to mud crabs or Sri Lakan Crabs. The oyster is good, but not fantastic.Sashimi and Sushi section. The variety of sushi and sushi roll is very extensive and creative with more 10 different types, while the sashimi selection is so limited with salmon, swordfish and yellow tail and the cuts for the sashimi is very small, which is abnormal for a 5-star international buffet restaurant.Moving to the rotisserie and cooked food selection, the roast beef is quite ordinary and the Yorkshire pudding is just flat. The beef ribs is chewy, while the rest of the international cooked food is so uninspiring. If I ever return, I will just skip the cooked food section and go for the Indian food. They are authentic and so much better compare to the rest. The Briyani rice is fluffy while the tandoori meat is tender and well seasoned.For the live station of Teppanyaki and Pasta, I only manage to try the Lobster Risotto from the pasta section. To save time, the risotto are pre-cooked to half done. Upon order, they will re-cook and add the lobster and the rest of the ingredients. Unfortunately, for my serving the risotto is under cook. Way below the al-dente level and lacks of punch.For desserts, they have three type of fondue to indulge you. Chocolate, Strawberry and Green Tea. Although it is nice to the eyes, stick with the chocolate. The taste of the strawberry and green tea are very artificial. While I tried other bite sized of the cakes, nothing really catch my eyes except for the bread & butter pudding and chocolate cake which are delicious with the custard sauce.I decided to skip the bread station, salad bar, HK roast station and dim sum station. When our friends told us the HK roast station and dim sum station is very ordinary, I decided not to waste my stomach space.Service on Friday night definitely need to improve. It is very difficult to get the attention of the service staff, either to top up our drinks or clear the dirty plates. The one that horrified me the most is when I ask one of the Chef, where does your roast beef come from, he replied “Fresh from the Market”. OMG, I'm just floored by the answer. I can confirm, guarantee and chop that no restaurant in Singapore will use beef fresh from the market for their roast.

Atmosphere is very good. The decoration is very simple and modern. There are good spaces between tables for you to walk around without accidentally bumping to other diners. For those celebrating your birthday, you will get birthday cupcakes and entertained with the performance of the chefs and service staff.Overall, I cannot understand what the rave is all about for Carousel. For the price that I am paying, I have to say I expect more. Although the varieties are extensive, the quality and the overall standard of the food and services are really not worth paying for. Hopefully they can improve on their quality and consistency, and who knows, Chubby Botak Koala might drop by again. Cheers!!!

For the complete Chubby Botak Koala experiece, click / copy the link
to your browser: http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2014/09/carousel.html

So far we have visited two locations of Peperoni Pizzeria: Greenwood and Frankel. So this time around Little Devil and I are on baby sitting duties, and we brought our niece and nephew to Suntec City. Our little naughty niece decided she wanted chips for lunch, so we decided to go for Peperoni.Located in eating area around the Fountain of Wealth, this branch will see a lot of human traffic. Like other establishment three main colour of Italian flag were used to light up this place. The pizza oven are located in the front of the shop with open kitchen concept. This will definitely pique the interest of passer by to dine in Peperoni.Based on our previous two visits at other Peperoni outlets, we know the standard of food to expect. Since I was not very hungry, LD & I decided to share an entrée and one pizza. The little one got her chips, with condition she need to finish the fish as well.

Entree was Calamari Fritti ($14), fried calamari served with lemon, mayo and arrabiata sauce. The calamari is lightly coated with seasoned flour, has an moist and tender texture. Slightly resilient but not rubbery. The lemon add a bit of twang, and combine well with either mayo or arrabiata sauce.We ordered half/half Diavola (pepperoni) and Margherita (buffalo mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, basil & oregano) - $24 for large. The toppings on top of the thin crisp pizza are simple generous. Half meat and half cheese are just perfecto.The little one had Fish & Chips kids meal ($14), however the portion given is just too generous. Served with salad, the size of this meal can filled a stomach of one adult. She managed to wallop all the chips and half of the fish. LD polish off the rest of the fish. The kids meal come with drinks as well.Although the food is good, it was not all a pleasing dining experience. LD and the kids were greeted by the grumpy receptionist. When I arrived, and try to keep my nephew stroller, she was rude and giving orders in the commanding tone. Although no service tax was charge, I am sure this is not the proper way of service. A few of the customers with kids that came after us also face the same problem. To be fair, the rest of the service staff were very professional except for the grumpy reception staff.

Overall, we found that Les Amis group really did a great job in maintaining the food standard across its establishment. The pizza was good and the food here are value for money. Service really need improvement, as this is not the first outlet of Peperoni that I found inconsistent service standard. Cheers!!

For the complete chubby botak koala experience, click / copy the link below to your browser:
http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2014/06/peperoni-pizzeria-suntec-city.html

Department of Caffeine ('DOC') is one of the most recent happening café in Duxton. So when my caffeine buddy (Monkey Boy - 'MB') was in Singapore for a stop over, I decided to brought him here for a quick shot of cuppa.Our first impression when we enter the cafe was that “Wow! This place is packed”. Where did all this people come from and it was 3pm on a working day. Luckily we manage to get a table, a two seater. However, getting in and out of that table was actually quite a challenge as you don't have enough walking space.After several minutes of consideration, MB decided to order Buttermilk Waffles with Banana and ice cream ($13.50) & cappuccino ($5). I ordered the Sticky Date Pudding ($9) and Latte ($5).It took them about 10 mins before the food arrived. While we were catching up I realised the temperature of this place is quite high. Even though there are several air-conditioners , it is just not enough to cool down the place. We were basically melting inside.First to arrive was my Sticky Date Pudding and latte. The pudding is soft, moist and sticky. The ice cream combines well with the caramel sauce. While the almonds gave a crunchy texture to the desserts. The latte has a nice rosetta latte art. It looks very smooth, however the coffee is average. When you reach the middle part of the latte, it seems to be more air in the froth.MB's waffle came and looks delicious. The serving is quite generous, especially on the caramelised banana. Good presentation. The waffle is rich and crunchy. The bananas toppings will be better with another 30 seconds on the heat. Cappuccino has a nice latte art, but we both agree the coffee is average.The décor of this place is simple and with an open concept. You can see the back of the cafe once you enter the door. It has a cone shape, where the space at front is quite small and become wider and wider to the end. The setting of the tables and chairs are close to each other. They really maximise the available space. The size of the table is very small only enough for dessert and coffee. I can't even put my phone on the table. Service is limited and forgettable.Overall DOC served good quality dessert. However, it seems the coffee is not to our preference. A small suggestion, the best time to visit this place is before noon or after 5pm unless something is done to lower down the temperature of restaurant. Cheers!!

For the complete Chubby Botak Koala dining experience, click / copy the link below to your browser:
http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2014/06/Department-of-Caffeine.html

Xiang Man Lou ('XML') is a tiny Shanghainese Restaurant located at Temple street squeeze between the Temple Inn and a slimming studio. You can be sure that you probably passed this restaurant a few times without taking notice of it. I certainly missed it when I try to locate it, not to mention the non-English or non Hanyu pinyi signboard. Yup, if you have not figured it out until today, now you know Chubby Botak Koala can't read Chinese

XML served a traditional Shanghainese Cuisine. Quick research online, it seems that Shanghainese Cuisine uses alcohol freely in their cooking, from entrée to desserts. You basically can associate the drunken chicken, drunken duck or anything soak / cook wine to the Shanghainese cuisine. They are also known to be very bold with their flavour, so be prepare to expect super salty, spicy, tongue numbing and even nectarous flavor.My recommended dish for XML are drunken chicken (醉鸡), braised pork knuckle(红烧圆蹄), fried frog leg in a mini-pot (干锅牛蛙), Chef's Golden fried rice (金沙炒饭), and mini rice ball with rice wine (桂花酒酿小圆子).

For the drunken chicken (醉鸡), XML uses the bone-in chicken whole leg, which consist of drumstick and thigh. It was soaked with rice wine over a period to time and the result is tender, succulent and full of flavour meat with light aromatic wine taste.The Braised pork knuckle (红烧圆蹄) has a nice brown colour and looks lean. It is easily cut to smaller part with fork and spoon, due to the long cooking process. When you bite into it, the skin seems to melts in your mouth and the meat is very tender. The sauce is slightly salty, and it goes well with rice. Yummy!The fried frog leg in a mini pot (干锅牛蛙) is nicely executed. The frog legs are succulent and the combination of the sliced vegetables and potatoes make this dish close to a comfort food. The spiciness level of this dish was much lower compare to the original version as we were blown off by the spiciness from the other dishes.Chef's Golden Fried Rice(金沙炒饭) is one of the item not in the current menu. The nicely served round shaped fragrant fried rice gives a al-dente texture with enough 'wok hei'. The wok hei-ness combined with ingredients such as lap cheong and prawn, gives a perfect taste and it is not oily at all. According to manager, it is a very popular dish with Japanese tourists.For desserts, mini rice ball with rice wine (桂花酒酿小圆子) is a must try, as it is a traditional Shanghainese dessert and of course it nicely prepared. Ingredients consist of mini rice ball, wolfberry and osmanthus flower. Slightly on the sweet side, but combine well with a fragrant low alcohol rice wine.The sweet and sour whole fish (糖醋松子鱼) here is a feast to the eyes. The meat was sliced skilfully, that when it was fried, it come out looking like the pineapple skin. Although the presentation was just gorgeous, it is a pity that it is slightly lacking in taste. The fish is coated with too much flour and the sweet and sour sauce was just too heavy.If you really wanted to tried some original Shanghainese spicy dishes, deep fried chicken with chilli (歌乐山辣子鸡), seasoned dry beef with pepper(干煸牛肉) and fried Chinese cabbage in Mini-pot (干锅包菜). The are just mind blowing spicy or tongue/lips numbing in some cases. Furthermore, they are super salty too. However, these are the flavours that you will get if you are dining in China. So for our PRC friends, these dishes will remind them of home-cooked food.This dish is considered the lighter side of the cuisine, sauteed prawn served with vinegar (清炒虾仁) is a good option. The prawn is small in size, however it is very sweet and crunchy. If you dipped it in vinegar, it will add the tangy flavour into it, but made the prawn feel more crunchy.The restaurant is simply decorated and very minimalist. Most of the tables catered for small to medium size group (4 to 6 people). Service is all right and the food came at a regular interval.Overall, XML served traditional Shanghainese cusine, they also provided some other Chinese dishes that cater to the locals' and tourists taste buds. If you are not used to heavy flavours, I suggest you inform the service staff when you order. Ask for less salt and tone down on the spiciness. If I am around the area, I won't mind coming back for their drunken chicken and fried rice. I'll check out their Xiao Long Bao next time as well.

Thank you very much to OpenRice and management of Xiang Man Lou for the tasting invitation. Cheers!!

For the complete Chubby Botak Koala dining experience, click here:
http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2014/05/xiang-man-lou-temple-street.html

Sun With Moon Japanese Dining and Cafe is a combination of Japanese Dining C with cafe concept. As far as I know, it has been in Wheelock Place for a number of years, however, I did not have the chance to visit it till today.Located on the third floor, the dining area are segregated into two section. The section closer to the window are filled with natural lights that come through the window. While the section closer to the entrance has more of café setting, less natural lighting but are more cosy and comfortable. Nice atmosphere.I decided to order Tonjiri Saba Shioyaki ($17.80 ) while Little Devil ('LD”) decided on Shokado Bento ($36.80). Both lunch come with the desserts and coffee or tea.
Tonjiri Saba Shioyaki set consist of sliced pork in miso hotpot and grilled mackerel with salt. The broth of the hot pot is very robust, think and full of flavour. The sliced pork belly is slightly lean but tender. The portion of the grilled saba is slightly small, nicely grilled. Juicy with a resilient texture of the first. To accompany the meal is a bowl of white rice and a couple of grapes and agar-agar.LD's Shokado Bento is more glamorous. Consist of 3 kind of sashimi, prawn tempura, salmon sushi, sushi roll, beef steak and mini udon noodle. The sashimi cut is quite big and fresh, the same can be said about the tempura. The sushi are combination of fresh salmon sushi and grill salmon suhi. However, we notice the sushi rice is slightly hard. The beef steak is also slightly tough and it does not melts in your mouth. A disappointing bento set.The ice cream and coffee or tea are served after the meal. Service level are quite ordinary.
Overall, we find that the food in Sun with Moon is just alright. My Tonjiri is nicely executed as the broth are rich and robust, however the rest of the food nothing to be marvel about except for the freshness of the ingredients. Great atmosphere, but not sure if I'll be back though. Cheers!!

For the complete Chubby Botak Koala experience, click here:
http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2014/04/Sun-With-Moon-Wheelock-Place.html