Weekdays are great when dining at Crystal Jade Kitchen! The $9.80 special set lunch menu is a steal and a value for money lunch choice. At $9.80, the set includes a la mian, a dim sum item and a drink of your choice.

Three of us had three different la mian: the zha jiang la mian, the dry la mian in spring onion oil and the soup la mian with minced pork and vegetable wanton; and chose 2 xiao long bao and a deep fried spring roll as our dim sum items. We all had the very nice and warm soya bean milk! As a fan of their dry poached la mian with dried shrimp and spring onion oil, I chose that without hesitation, I love the fragrance of the la mian tossed in spring onion oil, oh so good! The other two la mian are also good and kept to standard.

How can we go without their signature xiao long bao, it's so worth having the xiao long bao in this menu list of choices! The deep fried crispy spring roll is really yummy, and served fresh, hot and piping. It's my first time trying their spring roll and I really love it.

This special set lunch menu is only available at two of their outlets, Holland Village and Ngee Ann City, and is only available on Mondays to Fridays from 11am to 5pm. But please note that the Holland Village outlet closes at 3pm for a break only to open for dinner later.

Was here for lunch on a Sun noon as we had bought the groupon voucher. The place was quite full, probably because it is still quite new in Great World City. We had to wait for a table but not for too long. We had the Grilled King Snapper, Seafood Bucket and Crispy Squid to share among three of us. The Grilled King Snapper is fresh and tasty and comes with corn and butter rice. This is quite nice and I wont mind ordering this again on my next visit. The Seafood Bucket includes fried prawns, oysters, calamari and fish & chips. I would say this is a good option if you want to try each of something. It is nice and great for snacking! I like the crispy delicious fish & chips best among the variety. The Crispy Squid disappoints though, it gets soggy and hard after a while and even when eaten just served, it was ordinary to me. Desserts was quite bad, the blueberry panna cotta we had didnt taste like panna cotta at all, it was like instant jelly, a complete let down and total waste of money to order this! Just do away with desserts when you dine here, its not worth the money and calories too!

Din Tai Fung is always crowded with locals and tourists alike, regardless of which outlet. Get a number and wait for your turn. The Chinatown Point outlet is quite big, and I didnt have to wait too long for my turn though there was already a long queue when I reached.

Service is prompt and fast, table is set ready with tea and ginger, and the food comes in a reasonable time too. My must order every time I visit Din Tai Fung is their xiao long bao and the pork chop fried rice. I can actually have just these two items and leave a very happy diner! The xiao long bao needs no introduction, succulent and juicy, I feel they are one of the best I have ever eaten. The pork chop fried rice is amazing, I always wonder how the rice can be fried to such perfection, so fragrant and delicious, every grain of rice shining with glow, together with the pork chop, it is just so heavenly! Cant have enough of the pork chop fried rice always! We also tried an appetiser or side dish which is the Smoked Duck and spring onions wrapped in crispy springroll skin for the first time. I quite like the crispiness of this side dish, but I feel it is not very worth it for the price. Next time, I would rather spend this money on another order of xiao long bao instead.  

I seldom buy Coffee Bean's drinks unless I lunch there and usually with the lunch set, it comes with a regular coffee or iced tea. Recently, since the christmas drinks are launched, I had the drink changed to one of their new christmas drinks which is the Double Chocolate Peppermint Mocha. And boy, I was hooked to their new drink! I dont really take coffee as caffaine makes me quite uncomfortable. But the Double Chocolate Peppermint Mocha wasnt that strong in coffee taste, but was rich and chocholately with a light tinge of peppermint. I love the peppermint taste! The taste blends so well and is the perfect drink! It's even better than Starbucks Peppermint Mocha which is too sweet, and has now officially become my favourite drink. It's my perk-me-up drink! Next up, I want to try the ice blended version!

I personally feel that food quality in Coffee Club has gone down drastically throughout the years. It is a sad thing as it used to be my favourite hangout during 1999 to the early 2000s before 2010. I still remembered fondly some of their classic favourites mains and sides in their old menu, and the defunct outlet at Ngee Ann City was my favourite outlet, where I used to dine there during the weekends with my buddy... the memories and yummy food stays.

Have stopped going to Coffee Club in the past few years due to the declining standard of food, but recently gave it another chance as I missed their Muddy Mud Pie, which is the only item there still maintaining its standard. I had hoped the food will improve since I have not been there for some time. Sadly, it disappoints again! The mains like pasta and baked rice was bad during my last visit like two years back so I opted for the sandwiches as the sandwiches were good during my last visit. Surprisingly, the Ham and Cheese sandwich was awful, so it meant even the sandwiches lost its standard! The ham was super salty and we couldnt even bear to finish it. I think I can make better ham and cheese sandwich at home than this. Luckily, the Mudpie maintained its standard, I guess in future, if I go to the Coffee Club again, it will solely be for the Muddie Mudpie!