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Whenever I walked past Salt Tapas & Bar at the first floor of Raffles City Shopping Centre, it somehow felt like a place which was more for drinking rather than food so I've never had the urge to check out its menu and what it offers. In addition, the name of the restaurant i.e. the word tapas suggested that it offered small bites rather than full-course meals so that also deterred me to some extent. Upon seeing some recommendations online recently about its Jardin tea promotion on weekday afternoons from 3pm to 5pm, I finally decided to give this a try and I'm glad to say, I am happy that I did so.

Upon reaching the restaurant, the service staff would ask if you would prefer an indoor or outdoor table. If the weather is cool enough or you aren't bothered by the heavy traffic passing you by, the outdoor area would be suitable for you. On the other hand, even if you choose to enjoy the aircon comfort indoors, you can still enjoy the street view since the doors are left open. As seen from the photo, I chose aircon over al fresco since it was a bit hot after a downpour on the day I visited and I didn't want to take in the exhaust fumes from the vehicles together with my tea time snacks.As I was browsing through the menu, water was served from a wine bottle with a cup having bubbles on the side thus making it look as if this was sparkling water. I must have looked like I was very clueless about this place because the waiter took the time to explain to me what they offered during this period and even told me that this was water (in case I misunderstood it to be otherwise). I think that's rather reassuring especially for first timers like me who probably finds it a bit unsettling to be here when the staff clearly outnumbered the customers. Besides me, there was only another table of a couple with their young toddler and another table of working adults at a corner away from me apparently taking a brief break from work.

On the Jardin's food menu, there were two tea sets comprising of various snacks, both sweet and savoury. Set A contains white coffee creme brulee, camembert with lavash, Jamon croquette, Kinako macaron, Honeycomb cake, prawn taco and choc sable. On the other hand, Set B offers purple Japanese sweet potato macaron, matcha orange religieuse, raspberry rhubarb tart, Parma ham with fig, raisin scones, mini churros and pork slider. As for the drinks, you can choose from coffee and tea i.e. espresso, macchiato, long black, flat white, cappucino, cafe latte, breakfast tea, camomile, earl grey, jasmine green tea and peppermint or the three mocktails i.e. Rose n' flames, Adam's apple and Berry fruity. The Jardin tea time promotion allows you to choose one of the tea sets and one drink for the price of $35++. If you prefer to create your own unique combination (maximum 7 items), that would be $45++.On the other hand, if you wish to add more items, you can do so at the price of $5++ per item. I welcome this kind of flexibility because I always felt that a lot of tea time promotions tend to insist on a fixed menu which may not appeal to everyone. For example, if I'm not a fan of macarons and yet the menu has this item, I can't change it with something else even if I offer to pay a different price. As such, it does get on my nerves if I'm forced to eat something which I don't like so I tend not to go for tea time offers which don't allow changes or customisation to the food options. Although there were some items which I wasn't too keen on or had never had before, I decided against changing the combination in the set menu since there should have been a reason why they were put together.

Starting off with the drink, I selected the berry fruity mocktail which according to the menu consists of green tea, blackberry, mint leaves and lime. It came in this beautiful cocktail glass with two green apple rings on top of it. Frankly speaking, I wasn't sure whether I should or could eat the apple rings so I just left them as they were. As for the mocktail itself, I thought it tasted a lot like thick black tea rather than the comparatively lighter green tea so I think the blend of flavours probably resulted in this end result. As I am a big fan of mint and citrusy flavours, I was eagerly anticipating to be able to pick up the taste of the mint and lime but unfortunately, they were hardly noticeable. Nonetheless, that's not to say that this drink isn't nice. I did enjoy it after all but I guess it depends on the individual. I personally prefer to be able to pick up the distinct flavours of the ingredients which go into making this drink so at the very least, if the mint taste was stronger, this drink might have ranked higher in terms of my satisfaction index.As for the food, I selected Set B which has more items that I'm familiar with and like. The items were served in a wooden tray with chocolate soil beneath so it resembles a garden with a variety of colours. Visually, this is very appealing and the desserts looks so pretty that I felt unsure of how I should start. There isn't any particular way or order you should adhere to when eating these items so I just went with my own gut feel. Another interesting feature of this was that the waiter would come by to ask for your name which left me a bit bewildered at first. Later, I realised that this was because they wanted to write my name on the side of the tray in chalk which somehow made this feel special as if this treat is specially for me. I wondered why they put the side with my name facing outwards though and was a bit self-conscious about showing my name to the rest of the customers who were around at that time. Nonetheless, I thought this was a pretty good tactic to improve the dining experience.

The first thing which caught my attention was the sweet potato macaron which was in a light purple hue. I have never eaten macarons before and simply do not understand what the hype is all about. To me, macarons seem like an overly sweet dessert for me so I've not been too keen on this thus far. However, this sweet potato macaron had me somewhat converted, not fully though. The light aroma of the sweet potato and the not-so-sweet macaron was a joy to savour and I felt like having a second helping.

The next item was the Parma ham with fig i.e. one of the two savoury items in this set. I have never tried having ham with fig so the combination was innovative to me. However, perhaps the ham could have been paired with something sweeter than the fig because the saltiness was a tad overwhelming and could have been balanced out with another item that has a stronger taste.

Third up was the churros which is something I've been quite in love with of late. However, as this is the mini version, it was difficult to get an accurate assessment of the taste. In addition, the cream and chocolate sauce were put into the same cup thus resulting in a blended dip which I didn't quite like. Perhaps I should order the regular-sized churros next time to see how they taste.

The rhubarb tart was OK but I thought that the creamy tart base was a bit too fluffy to my liking. I don't really recall how rhubarbs are supposed to taste so I can't tell whether this tart was good especially since the sourness of the raspberries took away my attention.

The scone with raisins were really good in that it wasn't hard as a rock and had a nice aroma. Having it with the jam made the taste even better. I would have wanted more of this if it was available.

As for the pork slider, I thought that it was very flavourful especially the pickled vegetables. I wonder if there was a full-sized version which would be really satisfying to have.

Last but not least, the religieuse which supposedly should have the matcha and orange flavours, turned out to be stronger on the orange side. It might have been good to emphasize the matcha flavour too so as to strike a balance.

In conclusion, this is how I would rank the items I had (in descending order): pork slider -> sweet potato macaron -> scone with raisins -> religieuse -> Parma ham -> rhubarb tart -> churros.

Having tried this once, I think I will go back again to try other items on the food menu and another mocktail. That kinako macaron, honeycomb cake, choc sable and prawn taco on Set A do seem rather appealing. Service was great and attentive especially for a first-timer like me who was unsure of what to order and how to do it. Price-wise, it does seem a bit steep so to me, this would be a once-in-a-while indulgence on a lazy weekday afternoon.

The first time when I went to Astons, I was pleasantly surprised that it served quality Western food at relatively low prices compared to most restaurants. To make it even better, the portions were huge. However, the portions have somehow shrunk a bit which I attribute it to rising costs. In addition, quality tends to be fluctuate at times.

During this visit, I had ordered the teriyaki chicken with sausages and potato salad and fries as sides. The size of the chicken had become much smaller than usual, sausages were OK while the potato salad had a few pieces which were not cut to bite-sized. Onion rings was good but then again, this is not something made in-house.

If you want to go to this outlet on weekends especially dinner, be sure to come before 6pm or else you will have to join a long snaking queue.

If not for the fact that the food here is pretty good, I would not have even bothered coming here for a second time. The first visit did put me off quite a bit due to the poor service but I needed to grab dinner before class on a Saturday evening and this was the only place I found without a queue. I was keeping my fingers crossed that it will be better the second time round.

Well, in terms of the food, it did impress me. However, the service still leaves much to be desired. The restaurant was only half-full and yet you have the waiters and waitresses standing around while I waited for my plain water and order. It left me wondering if the kitchen was too slow in dishing out the orders or the waiters had too little to do. In the end, I did not even ask them to bring my bill to the table. I walked straight to the counter to pay or else I would have wasted more time waiting for the bill.

Coming to the food, this mushroom chicken soup was really great. It was rich but not to the point of being overwhelming and it had lots of ingredients which made for a hearty meal. I wasn't expecting such a huge bowl of soup so if you are a small eater, chances are you will be quite full after finishing this.The chocolate fudge cake was passable though. It wasn't moist enough and felt a bit rough in terms of its texture but in terms of taste, it was just right i.e. not too sweet or bland. I would have wanted the chocolate and the sponge cake to be more moist.The rosemary sea salt chicken was quite unique since it comes with the apple cranberry sauce which is sweet. Coupled with the savoury rosti and chicken, it was unexpectedly good. As for the salad, it was a bit too sour for me so I guess there was too much vinegar in it.

Frankly speaking, if you can turn a blind eye to the patchy service for the sake of the food or relaxed atmosphere here, I think this outlet will be suitable for you. Otherwise, you might be better off going to other outlets or else you risk spoiling your appetite due to the long waiting time. I still like Cedele's food but I prefer spending my time elsewhere than to wait here and spoil my mood. When you are in a bad mood, nothing tastes good.

For the detailed review and more photos, please visit my blog: http://shokushisouseikatsu.blogspot.com/2013/10/review-of-shin-sapporo-ramen-century.htmlI had the Hakata-style tonkotsu ramen along with the pork gyoza and two kushiyaki i.e. pork and chicken wing. The tonkotsu soup was on the lighter side but nonethless flavourful but the noodles could do with a bit more thickness so as to absorb the soup better. Otherwise, the noodles on its own tend to be a bit tasteless. As for the gyoza, the quality was a bit uneven because those which were not burnt on the outside managed to keep the filling juicy while those which were burnt made the filling dry up. Some of the kushiyaki options were not available when I was there so I settled for the pork and chicken wing versions. The pork kushiyaki was well-seasoned and nicely grilled but the chicken wing version felt a bit bland on the inside.

Was looking for a quick bite (late lunch/tea) at Plaza Singapura and chanced upon Nana which wasn't crowded and was still open at that time. I ordered the ebi chili don i.e. prawns in chili sauce with rice and yakitori chicken. With the ebi chili don comes a bowl of miso soup if you are ordering as a set. Frankly speaking, there aren't that many items to choose from if you are looking for rice/noodle choices as compared to the galore of green tea drinks and desserts on offer. I can't blame them since this is essentially a drinks and dessert place but it would have been nice to have more options.

The ebi chili don was passable with nicely deep-fried prawns in the slightly sweet chili sauce. Miso soup was a bit bland. As for the yakitori chicken, I think I prefer the leeks that come with it rather than the chicken which didn't leave a strong impression on me.

Overall, if you are looking for a quick bite and do not have sky-high expectations for the food here, I think Nana's is still a good choice. However, most people are here for the drinks and desserts so I think those key items will probably fare better.