With the success of its first outlet in Biopolis, “Meat Your Greens” team decided to bring the concept to the heart of the Central Business District in Singapore. What a better place to cater to the busy but health conscious Singaporean other than in Shenton Way. In case that you are curious on the concept of The Lawn at Biopolis, you can click here for the review.

Located on the food section of Basement 1 of AXA Tower, The Lawn is not hard to find. The décor is simple, neat and look huge with long salad bar for your to choose your toppings. The full size glass wall allow the passerby to see what's on offer in the restaurant. The grill are placed at the and with good air circulation you won't come out smelling like your food. As The Lawn concept is based on a salad bar, the following is the SOP on placing your order:
1. Choose Base: Salad or Olive Rice (for those that need their carbohydrate)
2. Choose your Grill (protein: such as chicken, prawn, dory fish, duck, beef or even vegetables)
3. For Salad Box, Choose your toppings & dressings, you have 26 type toppings (such as vegetables, fruits, pasta, nuts, cheese, etc) and 9 types of dressing options. For Olive rice, you have a standard side salad with no dressing.

The first thing that I noticed when they serve the salad bowl is the size. Lets just say it is 25% bigger than the size in Biopolis. Base on their past experience, the team has created three Chef's pick of top salad combination: Sweet & Chick, Hunky Dory and Crunches with Munches. I personally like to choose my own salad and toppings. My top pick from the grill is Butter Seared pacific dory with parsley rub. It is tender and juicy , the portion of the dory is very generous, while the parsley rub helps to remove any fishy smell in the dory. The prawns are another seafood option, it is fresh and juicy, however I don't think the portion deliver a good value for money compare to fish. For those who prefer chicken, you can have the selection of chicken breast or chicken thigh. For something sweet, try their maple infusion. For TexMex flair, go with the cajun chicken. I will personally choose the chicken thigh, as it is more juicy and tender. The major improvement that I like about The Lawn in Shenton Way is their coffee machine. They decided to get serious and invest a bit more on their coffee machine to accompany the beans from Smitten. The outcome is a consistent, smooth and creamy cup of coffee that won't disappoint you.To end the meal, or if you want to have some to satisfy your sweet tooth, the cakes are from Gobi while their tiramisu is from The Tiramisu Hero. The chocolate cake and green tea get my thumbs up where both are light in texture with a nice balance in flavour.

The service is minimum. The order process goes like this, Chop your seat (Yes, we are very Singaporean), take your order sheet, tick your selections and go to the counter to pay. The food will then be delivered to you. Price starting at $8.90 for Olive Rice and $9.90 for Salad. For grill Chicken / vegetables +$3, Fish / Duck / Prawns +$4 and Beef +$5.

Overall, The Lawn has bring the “Meat Your Greens” concept for those health conscious people in Shenton Way. The price is not cheap, but it is reasonable. With the quality of the food here, I believe it will satisfy your cravings for good food and watching your figure at the same time. Cheers!!

For the complete Chubby Botak Koala dining experience & desserts photos, click / copy the link below to your browser:
http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2013/09/the-lawn-shenton-way-bringing-meat-your.html

2am: Dessert Bar is the brainchild of chef Janice Wong. A reputable chef in her own right, she has honed her skills under the tutelage of world renowned chef such as Thomas Keller from US. Awarded Asia's Best Pastry Chef at the prestigious San Pellegrino Asia Top 50 2103. In this establishment, expect your palate to be charmed and entertained by the creativity of chef Janice Wong and her team. Located on the second floor of 21 Lorong Liput Holland Village, behind the Cold Storage, this is a place to satisfy your sweet tooth and sweet eyes.

Boasting a decoration like a bar, as mention in its name, this place definitely great to chill out. Once you reach the second floor, this place is divided into three section. The bar, the high tables and the couch. For couples, the connecting long couch with coffee tables is a good option if you come in pair. While high bench and chairs, is the perfect choice if you come in a group. If you prefer to see how the chefs in action up close, you can choose the bar. The lighting is very intimate, as you can see I am taking pictures without flash as not to disturb the atmosphere. For something not too sweet, we recommend Hot Chocolate, served with homemade churros ($10). The chocolate drink is creamy with full bodied chocolate, together with the crispy churros, created a perfect chemistry in your mouth. I will recommend you to order extra churros ($4) to ensure you are fully satisfied. We just can't stop popping the little suckers into our mouth. Shares of Green ($14), pistachio sponge, coco mousse, pandan gula melaka custard. This desserts is delightful to see, due to beautiful combination of green, white and brown. It tasted quite light and refreshing, with Asian flair. The different texture of each part of this deserts will definitely excite your palate.For chocolate lovers, Chicory Chocolate ($16) is recommended. Chocolate overload is the proper description of this dessert. Chicory suppose to provide the bitter / coffee like texture to the desserts. The biscotti texture like chocolate slice, with milk jam, vanilla ice cream and mix crumble is just difficult to resist. However, for those who can't tolerate rich chocolate such as myself, you might want to avoid this. If you are into wine, the chef has pair each desserts item with the most suitable wine. And for those non-desserts person, there is a snack menu. All the menus are available on the establishment website if you want to check it out.

The chef in charge for the night actually went around and explain the menu to the customers. She gave us the details of each desserts, base on our preference. Although we can't understand more than half of the technical terms that she used, we really appreciate her effort. Kudos to her.

Overall, we were really impressed with the concept of 2am dessert bar. It is provide a wonderful desserts experience like none others. The price is very reasonable as final preparation for each desserts, such as the sauce and melted chocolate are done after they received the order. We look forward to comeback for more. Cheers!!

For the complete Chubby Botak Koala experience, click / copy the below link to your browser:
http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2013/09/2am-dessert-bar-bye-bye-chocolate.html

Charisma D'Venue is a Halal semi-fine dining restaurant offering a unique gastronomic experience blending local South East Asia cuisine with western technique at an affordable price. Chef Fauzie is the Chef in charge of the innovative menu, with the ever popular Charisma Biryani (or Briyani)Located opposite Kwan Im Temple in Joo Chiat, this place can be very catchy in the evening. The restaurant decided to use purple lighting and you can spot this place from far away. The decoration is simple, yet modern and sophiscated. Once you enter the restaurant, you can see at the end there is chairs displayed for Malay wedding function. Oh ya, did I mention that Charisma D'Venue can also cater to your special events, such as wedding. As catchy as the purple lighting is, it is the bane for photographer. It made the colour of my photos out of whack. In respect to other people dining in the restaurant, I always try to limit the use of flash as much as possible. Therefore, my apologies if the picture looks weird.

Since Biryani is the most popular this in this place, we ordered their famous Biryani Lamb Shank ($18.80). The generous size of lamb shank is well braised, tender and fall of the bone. The gravy is excellent, robust, rich in flavour and goes well with the rice. The rice is flavourful and al dente, without the overpowering spices that you normally find in Indian Biryani. The mango chutney is a good counter balance for the richness of lamb shank. Although the dish is served with dalcha, we find that is just not necessary. The gravy from the braised lamb is enough to bind the rice and the meat. Yummy!!Another winner here is Charisma Calamari ($6.80). The fried calamari is crispy on the outside, and it is tender and juicy inside. The curried seasoning on the batter gave a distinct touch to the dish. The salad on the sides is fresh with a nice mango dressing. The yoghurt mint dipping sauce is unique, kind of Greek style, but if it is not that watery, the yoghurt sauce will complement it better. While the above two dishes are a winner, the two other dishes that we tried can be improve. Pan Fried Seabass ($16.80) – served with baked potato, mango chutney in mango puree sauce. Firstly they did a good job with the skin, it is crispy, however when they put the mango chutney on top, it just messed up the whole thing. Some part of the skin became soggy, the onion in the chutney is too overpowering for a fish dish. It will be better to substitute the chutney with other vegetables, use more subtle sauce and don't put anything on top of that beautiful crispy fish skin. Charisma Grilled Chicken Wing ($7.90) – served with peanut sauce. Good concept, however failed in execution. Although the chicken wings are well seasoned, The wings and peanut sauce were burnt. When we gave feedback to the management, they made a new one for us to bring back. I applaud their service orientated commitment. During our dinner, the service has been good and efficient. While the food can have its up and down, the mocktails here is a must tried. With the price ranging from $3 to $8.50 depending on ingredients, it sure is refreshing and flavourful. We tried Sunrise, Nojito (non alcoholic version of Mojito) and avocado smoothie. All get our thumbs up. Kudos to the mixologist. Overall, Charisma D'Venue delivered on their promise on affordable price fusion food. With the combination of some winner dish and mocktails, this is a destination for everybody, especially our Muslim friends.

For full review and more photos, please visit
http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2013/09/charisma-dvenue-restaurant-devine-and.html

Up to 14 September 2013, Chubby Botak Koala is giving away $25 dining vouchers in this venue. Check out the above link for details.

Tim Ho Wan (THW) officially opened in the heartland. After much fanfare opening of its first overseas outpost in Plaza Singapura, THW has made inroad to the heartland. The residents of Toa Payoh now can rejoice and licking their chops in anticipation to savour the popular Baked Char Siew Bao.After reading about their soft opening from RubishEatRubishGrow on my blogger buzz, Little Devil and I decided to try our luck on Friday (23/08) pre-empting that the queue won't be so long. So far, we have not tried the Plaza Singapura outlet yet, as we don't want to queue and we don't work near town area. Lucky for us, we can now claim that “We don't need to line up at Tim Ho Wan”. Understanding that it is currently on soft launch mode, we kept our expectations in check.

The décor of the restaurant is very simple, light wooden colour and Zen like. The decoration is similar to the THW at IFC Mall in Hong Kong and Plaza Singapore (which I saw when I passed by). For review of Hong Kong Tim Ho Wan @ IFC Mall, click here***. Small table size and limited personal space is something to remind you of Hong Kong, but be glad you are given a slightly bigger personal space here. This place can sit maximum about 100 customers.

First out from the kitchen within 10 minutes of placing our order are Vermicelli Roll with Pig's Liver ($5.50) and Vermicelli Roll with Sweet and Sesame Sauce ($4.20). The Vermicelli Roll on the Pig's liver filling is slightly thinner than I remember. It is smooth in texture and the pig's liver is cleaned properly, no foul smell, silky, juicy and tender. For sweet and sesame sauce, it has the right thickness, smooth and goes well the with sauce, tasted like one of Littledevil's favourite street food in Hong Kong. For traditional Dim Sum, Prawn Dumplings / Har Gao ($4) and Pork Dumpling with Shrimp / Siew Mai ($5). Har Gao here is fresh and juicy with a sticky, soft and resilient skin. What we find interesting about the siew mai is it tasted better after you let it rest a while. Slightly chewy and flavourful with a wolfberry uniquely placed on top to add sweetness to the siew mai.Beef Ball with beancurd skin ($4.20). This dish left a lasting impression during our visit in Hong Kong. They add a little tangerine skin into the ball to create a distinguish taste. When the first order came, the beef ball is over steamed until the beancurd become dry and the supposed unusual flavour of the tangerine aroma did not come out as expected. We ask the a couple of service staffs, if it suppose to be like this. Finally the Executive Chef came out to check with us, graciously accept our feedback and insisted to make us a new batch. This is what I call service. Kudos to them. The result of the second batch is nice tender juicy beef balls with its distinct tangerine skin twist. Finally come the time for reckoning the Baked Bun with BBQ Pork ($4.50). It's thin crispy crust with the texture of a 'Bo Luo Bao', is simply amazing and melts in your mouth. The filling has a familiar sweet juicy char siew flavour chopped pork. Yummyyy, I can say this is as good as the one in HK. If you have to wait in line, this is something that you can look forward too. Steam Chicken Feet with Abalone Sauce ($5). It has a nice rich flavour from the abalone sauce, unfortunately the chicken feet is slightly mushy instead of springy and crunchy comparing to the ones that we tasted in Hong Kong. Hopefully they can do something to get back its crunchiness. The presentation with parsley and cut chilli, show that they are trying to twist Singaporenise in their dish.

For desserts, we have Mango Pomelo Sago ($5) and Tonic Medlar & Osmanthus Cake ($3.50). The mango sago is thick, flavourful with a nice combination of sweet and sour. The pomelo taste is somewhat missing. Osmanthus cake is like a jelly, with visible Osmanthus flowers and wolfberries in the jelly. It is very flavourful and it is not as sweet as we thought it is going to be.Service is very good. Their service staff is very friendly including the trainee. According to the service staff, they are going to open take away counter on the 1st floor in the near future. At the moment, they only entertain dine in. If you want to take away after you dine in, you can order but you need to pack yourself due to the company policy. Styrofoam box and plastic bag will be provided FOC.

Overall, we like what we saw. Although all the food is not one hundred percent of the Hong Kong standard, it is close enough, especially on the Baked Bun with BBQ Pork. I hope the line will not be as long as the one in Plaza Singapura in the future. All I can say is that from the soft launch, it can only gets better. Cheers!!

For full review and more photos, please visit http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2013/08/tim-ho-wan-toa-payoh-hot-off-oven.html

In welcoming the Mid-Autumn Festival 2013, Xin Cuisine Chinese Restaurant at Holiday Inn Atrium, together with their F&B Team and OpenRice Singapore organise a Mooncake tasting for the selected reviewers in OpenRice.com.

Xin Cuisine Chinese Restaurant at Holiday Inn Atrium Singapore is currently helm by Chef Cheung Kin Nam. A native Guangdong Chef with more than 30 years experience in China and Hong Kong, is renowned to be a master in desserts and confectioneries. This year, Xin Cuisine presents four new delectable gems of mooncakes, together with its Signature collection of Mini Egg Custard with Egg Yolk.

While the evening kick off with us savouring the delicious finger food, the star for the night is definitely the mooncakes. For the traditional selection, you will have While Lotus Seed Paste with single / Double yolk, Assorted Nuts with X.O. Sauce (homemade X.O Sauce), Teochew Yam Paste with Single Egg Yolk and of course, the Signature collection of Mini Egg Custard with Egg Yolk.I personally find the taste of the mooncakes here is very subtle, not overly sweet. For those who like different texture in their mooncakes, the Assorted Nuts with X.O sauce will be a good choice. It is crunchy, slightly sweet. The homemade X.O sauce is delightful and not overpowering like those you get from the bottle. The Signature Mini Egg Custard, has a delicate creaminess in its flavour with a nice blend between the saltiness of the yolk and the sweetness of the custard. As the colour of the yolk and custard are similar, it is hard to distinguish in between both of the ingredients. While the Teochew Yam paste looks great in the picture, I did not manage to taste the Teochew Yam Paste as I was distracted. Judging from the speed its gone from the plate, I can only assume that it must have tasted great. For the Mini Snowskin mooncake, I personally prefer the Passion Fruit Paste (with Mango) and Peranakan Durian. The Passion fruit taste combine the unique flavour for passion fruit and mango, the tangy, sour and sweet. Let's just say you can't go wrong with mango. Xin's Peranakan Durian uses Blue Pea flower for the natural purplish colour in the snowskin to combine with the durian filling. Well, it feels like you are actually eating durian. We tried our best to extract information from the F&B team on what type of durian they used, however to no avail. Seems that it is one of those secret where “they can tell you but they have to kill you afterwards” For wine, the general rule of thumb is traditional mooncakes goes well with red wine, while the white wine or sparking wine goes well with snow skin mooncake. However, don't hesitate to mix and match as it is all depends on personal preference. As I am in alcohol free diet, I was not able to enjoy the wine.

Overall, Xin Cuisine Chinese Restaurant deliver a notable combination of tradition and creativity of mooncakes. Don't hesitate to give it a try as it might be suitable to your palate. Cheers!

Thanks to Xin Cuisine Team, Holiday Inn Atrium Team and OpenRice for the invitation to this mooncake tasting.

For full review and more photos, please visit http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2013/08/xin-cuisine-chinese-restaurant-evening.html