We had a 4 Course Set Dinner at Black Earth, with the following menu: 1) Soup of the Day

This was meant to be pumpkin soup, as told by the serving staff. However, strangely, we couldnt trace any evidence of pumpkin..

After a few spoonful, it striked me that the soup actually tasted like curry! But I'm not complaining here, because the soup tasted rather nice, coupled with the freshly baked garlic bread.Main course: Sirloin Steak with Salsa served with Honey Mustard Sauce

The chef was rather generous in the serving, accompanied with lotza vegetable and potato. The beef itself was chewy and tender, rather worthwhile!Main course : Poached Chicken Roulade with Mushroom served with Mango Sauce

This was actually chicken sausage, erm.. which was hidden by the vegetable and garnishes on top. This was passable to me, since I am no fans of sausages.Ice cream + coffee/tea

Overall, I think the food is value for money and the service is good with friendly staff =)

To read more and vist photos, please visit http://fun-hideout.blogspot.sg/2010/08/black-earth.html

Rakuzen is a pretty nice place, looks quite classy. Surprisingly the lunch/dinner sets are priced decently. The ala carte menu is more expensive, but not rocket high. Needless to say, we all ordered set dinners, being the first visit and less the hassle of browing through the ala carte menu...Beef Teppanyaki Set - $18++

The set came with teppanyaki beef with bean sprouts, chawanmushi, an appetizer, garlic rice, miso soup and a dessert ( watermelon with Konnyaku Jelly). I said this was rather worthwhile! ^_^

If you super big appetite, you can top up the dinner set with a plate of 6 sushi or sashimi, and the total price is approximately $25++ ( I cant really remember, should be more or less around $25++).The beef cubes were really chewy. On a side note, I went back Rakuzen second time and ordered again, the beef teppanyaki set. Hey, dun say I'm boring person okay. I'm just being very loyal... Keke.

Anyway, I find the beef cubes were slightly harder aka overcooked, so the standard is not very consistent lah

Orders of my friends.... Nabeyaki Set -$16

This was ordered by my fren. Similarly, it came with chawanmushi, a side dish, fruit and miso soup.Unagi Set - $18

Erm, my friend ordered the set with the top up of sashimi, cant really remember whether the price is before or after the top up. Dun blame me if I got the price wrong! =p

We unanimously agreed that the unagi was HUGEEEE... The chef so generous hor? Hhaha

To read more and view photos, please visit http://fun-hideout.blogspot.sg/2010/08/rakuzen-millenia-walk.html

I first heard about Red Star from a friend years ago, but just didnt have a chance to try it. Finally, I seized this opportunity when I was not working on a weekday and brought my parents there to have dim sum. ^_^

From what I heard, no reservations allowed here, so we went early to avoid the queue,if any. The location is quite out of the way, and we made a few U-turns to find the block and the carpark +_+

The restaurant is located in this super run-down block, that I probably will not have gone at all. The restaurant itself is a typical old chinese-style restaurant, with 2 lion stone "guarding" at the door...Fried Carrot CakeFish/Prawn Cake in Beancurd SkinFried Prawn DumplingBarbequed Pork Pastry Egg Tarts

The dim sum is broadly categorized as Large, Medium and Small. Dun ask me what is what..coz I oso dunno lah! Order at your own "risk"!

Based on my bill, most of our orders were in the Large category, which was priced at $3.60 each. I dun have any Medium orders and the Small ones were pricd at $2.80. That should be able to give you a rough gauge about the pricing? Hehe

My favourite from the list were the bbq pork bun, the egg tarts and the bbq pork pastry. I think I have a "soft spot" for their bbq pork...haha.

The bun itself had a tinge of sweetness that blended in nicely with the bbq pork. On the other hand, the pastry version provided a total different kind of texture, buttery and not too dry, which proved to be as good.

The rest, I guess, were just okay. In fact, I thought the the porridge served at Royal China was better than the one here. Haha..

The prices are relatively economical as compared to other places. The most expensive item in my bill was a plate of roasted duck ($14) which I cant be bothered to take photo.. coz not nice lah. I wont have mentioned here, if not that the price kinda "bothered" me. A plate of boney and cold roasted duck for $14??? I think that was a bit too much, so I dun recommend this dish. Note that this was also one of the item served in the push cart.

Overall, the food is okay and the price for the dim sum is definitely economical, considered that it is located in the town area. Chinatown area is still considered central bah... * Pondering*

Apparently, a lot of uncles and aunties like it here, and the place is filled with their chats and laughter. Reminds me of those yum cha resturant in hongkong... hehe

To read more and view photos, please visit http://fun-hideout.blogspot.sg/2010/09/red-star.html

One Egg Soup - $3.90

The One Egg Soup was a simple creamy soup with crispy fried egg. The soup was rather normal and it was abeit salty. Then again, I really like the crispy egg... Well, it was not expensive, so let's just not be too critical.... kekeGrilled Pork Chop - $13.90

The pork chop was pretty good, at least it was not too tough for the teeth to chew. Nice try.Char- Grilled Beef Karubi - $18.90

I was expecting beef steak or something. In fact, I was rather unsure that it was really beef coz I thought the texture was kinda weird.Nutella Tart - $4.90

Again, this was one of their best sellers. I read from other blogs that you got to order this earlier in case it runs out wor.. Unless they purposely limit the quantity, otherwise it means popularity and so a must-try! Hee

This was really nutella "gao" aka super rich & thick nutella. You will love it if you love nutella. Then again, not quite a good choice to eat it all by yourself, coz very thick lah... Do share okay?

Overall, food was pretty okay and the price was very economical.

To read more and view photo, please visit http://fun-hideout.blogspot.sg/2010/09/everything-with-fries.html

Aiya, it's buffet mah.. Buffet food in hotel is generally okay, not fantastic but then, it offers lotza varieties to stuff ourselves silly.. It's different objective! kekeSushi Spread

Not quite plentiful, but I was easily satisfied with just salmon.. HeeSalmon SushiTeppanyaki Beef

The teppanyaki beef was pretty good, very chewy and juicy. In fact, it tasted much better than the so called Wagyu beef ( picture below). I went for a couple more rounds for this, and dint finished my first portion of Wagyu beef. Haha..Wagyu Beef

On the other hand, wagyu beef was abeit too raw for my liking. I dun mind the bloody-ness, but it was too raw to chew. I tried chewing and chewing, and finally spitted it out coz it cant be swallowed. Kinda disappointing, as it was one of the dish that I was looking forward to.. haizHighlight of the day: Mini lobster! I dun take the oysters, so I had many portions of lobster to make it up! In fact, I probably had eaten at least 4-5 lobster. Hee

The lobster were really succulent but you know lah, they were small. Cold Station - Seafood and HamDesserts!

Other than these, there are also soups, cooked food, chinese food, salad bar...

To read more and view photos, please visit http://fun-hideout.blogspot.sg/2010/11/triple-three-orchard-mandarin-hotel.html