Having visited The Square @ Novotel Clarke Quay for Christmas Dinner and Indonesian Food Festival, I was psyched to be back for Chinese New Year Buffet Dinner.  The restaurant was decorated in a festive mode for the upcoming Chinese New Year, with plum blossom flowers, red banners etc, and this jolted my festive mood even as I stepped in. Needless to mention, the buffet dinner for this period would also consist of traditional Chinese New Year dishes, which shall be introduced shortly.A walk around the restaurant would unravel the various delectable international cuisines being served up on hot trays or pots. The Chilli Crab needs no introduction.- robust flavour tinged with spiciness and powdery, tender flesh.Now the Stars of the Night - traditional Chinese New Year dishes such as the Mushroom with Sea Cucumber, braised to a lovely tenderness and redolent of the shitake mushroom's strong earthly aroma.The Yusheng (raw fish with tossed vegetables) was displayed at a counter of its own, looking prim but pretty for the taking. It would be an interesting way of eating Yusheng, buffet style. The Sashimi Fish used was a "distant-cousin of the Tilapia", freshly-prepared and also the sashimi of the night under the seafood section. The vegetables and dressing were extremely sweet and fresh, making for a tantalising plate of Yusheng.Or how about the Cooked Salad / Asian Salad section? There were interesting fusion dishes such as Asian Angel Hair Pasta Salad - springy (QQ) pasta that was very delicious; I had second helpings of this.

For full review and more detailed information, please feel free to visit:
http://thearcticstar.blogspot.sg/2016/02/media-invite-cny-buffet-dinner-at.html

Having been to Plate @ Carlton City Hotel when it first opened, I was pleased to be heading back, this time for their buffet lunch for Chinese New Year. The usual buffet lunch for weekday is SGD$38.00++ but I believe the CNY menu now costs more. Service was rather professional and polite; they were also very efficient at clearing used plates.Ambience was as I remembered it - dimly-lit to create atmosphere, dark earthly hues to lend a sophisticated air, and well-spaced. Pool view was abundant on the front, and a beautiful alfresco terrace sits at the back. They serve International buffet for their lunch and dinner, but there's also an ala carte menu available if you would prefer not to have buffet.I started with some Seafood - mussels, scallops, prawns etc. The seafood was saccharine with sweetness, and flesh was springy.Sashimi and Sushi were next to the seafood section, and I enjoyed the items in this section as well - these were the 2 stations I refilled my plates with.The festive / Chinese New Year section comprised of Yam Ring stuffed with lots of other ingredients, fish, tofu, Sea Cucumber dishes, bak kwa dishes etc. There were also fragrant (lotus leaf?) Glutinuous Rice.Finally, desserts. I loved this section because there were lots of variety - from cakes and kuehs to Chinese dessert soup to Ice Kacang and ice-cream. The array of colorful sweet foods tantalised us even as we just looked at them; some of them were too sweet, but I liked the cakes.

For full review and more detailed information, please feel free to visit:
http://thearcticstar.blogspot.sg/2016/02/cny-buffet-lunch-at-plate-carlton-city.html

New Fut Kai Vegetarian Restaurant (新佛界素食馆) is situated at Jalan Besar, and has been serving delicious vegetarian cuisine to the vegetarian and non-vegetarian communities for the past decade. Their menu is extensive, from mock meat to mock seafood, even comprising of local delights such as vegetarian satay and spanning across other cuisines such as serving briyani rice!Ambience is home-styled, comfortable but not extravagant; design leans heavily on Chinese flavour, with big round tables and wall decor items. Service was average but polite enough. There is an alfresco area for dining as well, if one doesnt mind sitting at the small alley beside the restaurant.The Deep Fried Abalone Mushroom with Pumpkin Sauce (SGD$12.00 for small / SGD$18.00 for medium / SGD$24.00 for large) - the abalone mushroom was battered and crispy on the exterior, with a tender and moistened interior. The pumpkin sauce was thick and saccharine, and as a result the dish was very tasty.The star of the night was the Charcoal Fish Head Steamboat, served with enoki mushroom on the side. Personally, this was my favorite dish of the night. The broth was delicious, tasted like the soup cooked with real sliced fish. The vegetarian / mock fish was made of beancurd skin and springy in texture. There were quite a fair bit of vegetables in the soup, making it a balanced meal.Following that, we had the Sambal Hotplate Fish, served with limes on the side. This dish resembles a fish dish in an uncanny fashion, especially the appearance. One of my dinner companions nearly forgot that he was at a vegetarian restaurant, and began to look out for bones in the mock fish dish. Anyway, it was made of soy, so there was a crunchy texture to it, as well as a sweet taste, heavily obliterated by the delicious spicy sambal atop. I enjoyed it immensely because I can take very high level of spiciness, but feedback from other companions was that the sambal was too thick.Then we had the Braised Vegetarian Ribs with Coffee (SGD$10.00 for small / SGD$15.00 for medium / SGD$20.00 for large). The tender, soft, mock meat was held together by sugar cane stick, and redolent of coffee's aroma. It was a little too soft as compared to the real ribs, but overall flavour was robust.

For full review and more detailed information, please feel free to visit:
http://thearcticstar.blogspot.sg/2016/01/invited-tasting-dinner-at-new-fut-kai.html

A spin-off, or branch of Greenwood Seafood Bistro (review here), the Little Fish Shop is truly a hidden gem tucked away on level 4 of Nex Shopping Mall - just when I thought I knew Nex well enough! Little Fish Shop is the expansion into the heartlands, serving quality, fresh and affordable seafood dishes from around the world.The Ocean Trout (SGD$24.95) from the same section, pan-seared. It was served with 2 sides, so *Janice opted for mashed potatoes and chips. Her feedback was that the Ocean Trout was good, but bore a striking resemblance to salmon in aesthetics and palatial aspects, as well as the creamy, flakey texture.The the Ling Cod (SGD$26.95), having been described to bear resemblance to the cod and catfish (doesn't sound right huh). I opted for pan-seared doneness and sides of fresh green salad and chips. The fish did taste like catfish - the more taut version of it, a little creamy as well, but nothing like black cod. Regardless, the fish was fresh and tasted good; chips were crispy and greens were refreshing.

For full review and more detailed information, please feel free to visit:
http://thearcticstar.blogspot.sg/2016/01/dinner-at-little-fish-shop-nex.html

RedDot BrewHouse sits in a distinctive historical spot at Dempsey Hill, a dilapidated barracks restored to the beauty it is today. A second outlet opened at Boat Quay in 2010, also situated in a beautiful historical building. Atmosphere is chilled, relaxing and yet beautiful artistic pieces adorn the various corners of the restaurant / bar. A live band plays in the evenings as well. As for service, it could get a little slow and servers are not too attentive.We came here especially for the famous Monster Green Lager Beer - made up of green spirulina, which consists of lots of health benefits such as boosting of immunity system and regression / elimination of AIDs virus. Unlike the usual beer, this one was very low on fizziness; it was very smooth to ingest, like liquid silk, and was sweet in flavour. I found this absolutely tasty and beautiful.The Crispy Baby Squids (SGD$12.00) were not your typical calamari - they were whole baby squids deep-fried to a golden brown with crackling texture, like the ones you get at Chinese seafood restaurants. Battering, if any - was ultra light. These were addictive so we ordered two servings of them.
For full review and more detailed information, please feel free to visit:
http://thearcticstar.blogspot.sg/2016/01/chilling-out-at-reddot-brewhouse.html