I went to Singapore Post Office paya lebar to collect my ticket after work and decided to have a quick dinner there too. Astons Express has a kiosk at Kopitiam foodcourt and I decided to have western food for dinner.

Food at Astons Express is decent and the food quality is slightly better than standard coffeeshop western fare. The price is quite reasonable too. Since, it is in Kopitiam food court, I am able to use my Kopitiam card to get further discount of 10% from the total bill. I ordered chargrill chicke with 2 side lines at $7.90. So after the 10% discount , the total amount is S$7.10. I placed an order with the counter and provide us the food coaster pager which we will wait for it to beeps. Once it beeps, the foods are ready to collect.

The waiting time is less than 20 minutes and I think it’s quote worth it in terms of the value and portion. The quality is quite consistent. The chargrill was nicely grill and the chicken meat is soft and tender. The baked potato is my favourite and garden veggies are served in good condition.

Tangerine, ESPA at Resort World Sentosa is helmed by Chefs Forest and Sam Leong. It was my first visit last Saturday (7/8/2013) and truly a great experience with me. ESPA offers complete luxurious health retreat and spa holiday since June 2013. Guests are given a luxurious spa retreat and of course interesting delicacies selectively prepared by Tangerine. Both chefs worked with the nutritionist to come up with the healthy menu with the calories stated in the menu.

I always have the perception that eat healthy means tasteless foods but i was totally wrong. I am impressed with the 3-course lunch prepared by the chefs which gives me another new perception over healthy foods.My lunch session was an enjoyable as we are introduced with the dishes served by Chefs Sam Leong and Chefs Forest Leong to let us have a better understanding on the delicacy.

3-course lunch menu at Tangerine, ESPA at Resorts World Sentosa

Appertizer

Summer Green & Cress, Extra Virgin Coconut Vinaigrette

Main Course

Chef Forest’s Sous Vide Salmon with Olive Dust, Confit Tomato & Green Pea Mash

OR

Organic Lemongrass Chicken on Brown Rice, Pepper Tamarind Sauce and Brown Rice

Dessert

Chilled Avocado & Chocolate Sorbet- Includes a glass of Bael Fruit or Lemongrass DrinkAbsolutely loving all the dishes. The extra virgin coconut vinaigrette was absolutely something new for me. The combination with the green leaves and also the pomeloes tasted marvellous. Chef Forest shared with us that coconut oil is actually more healthier than olive oil.Sous Vide Salmon olive dust was prepared up to 48 degrees to maintain the omega 3 in it. So the taste is medium well done and the salmon meat was so smooth and tender. It just flow through the throat with the olive dust and green pea mash.Organic Lemongrass chicken was prepared using chicken breast and i always though the part will be hard to chew but I am wrong. it was well cooked tender and not smoothing. My friend love this and it was simple, elegant and nice presentation. It is quite filling when you have it with the healthy brown rice.The lunch session ended with chilled avocado & chocolate sorbet. Interesting combination and bold try by the chef. The avocado was fresh and the dark chocolate served in a great proportion.Exclusive Priviliges for RWS Food Affair from 14~22 September 2013 :-

(A 9-days Showcase of RWS Celebrity Chef Cuisine)

20% Discount for MasterCard cardholders and RWS Invites members.

For full review and more photos, please visit http://hazeldiary.com/?p=2237

Thanks to my colleague, I got to enjoy the international buffet at Conrad Centennial Hotel’s Oscar’s Café & Terrace We made a reservation for one of the weekday night for buffet session. International buffet is more of quality of the foods served as the value must be worth while to spend. The restaurant is located at the lobby level of the hotel with the warm lighting interiors and lively ambience to dine in.

We were greeted with a smile and friendly gesture. There are sections of different type of foods all around the restaurant which range from fresh sea foods section, cooked foods with different kind of cuisine section, sashimi section and dessert section. We are spoilt with the choice.

There are different kinds of cheese, hams and breads available to start off with the sessions. Customize own dressing for salads are available next to it and it is ideal to have it as appetizer.

The highlight of the buffet is that chef will only shuck the oysters upon request. This absolutely shows the freshness of the oysters.

There is one more thing that amazed me is the Parmigiana (Parmesan) bowl where the lettuce is tossed with the sauce, cheese and other ingredients personally by the chef to present us with a Caesar salad. The chef uses spatula to scrap the cheese from the bowl each time to mix the salad which makes the whole process looks interesting.

Cooked sections are just fine with the available choices. All are kept in warm condition and the foods are well-cooked. One of the dishes that I was quite impressed was Bake Roulade of Salmon with hollandaise sauce. The smooth meat texture which compliments with the sauce makes the salmon taste juicy and addictive.

And they do cut the sashimi upon request by the diners. As for dessert wise, they served wide selections from cakes to cookies and puddings. Chocolate Royal Hazelnut Crunch was one fine cake that I love. The sweetness of the chocolate with the hazelnut crunch really taste sinful. Live section is also available at this section as the waffles were served upon request as well. We get to choose the toppings and mix match the choice we want upon the waffles served. I had it with gelato.

The buffet ended with a cup of nice coffee for my buffet partner and a tea for me. The service staffs are attentive to diners. They will approach us to see what we need on and off and clear the plates promptly before we are back with new foods on plates.

For more photos of the buffet pictures, check out my blog post : http://hazeldiary.com/?p=2199

I simply can't resist to share my findings during my lunch break. My colleague recommended this nice place little hawker centre located at the junction of Joo Chiat Place and Still Road. I will never found this hidden gem if not my colleague who drove us over for lunch. The stall is famous with it's XO Crab Bee Hoon but we do not have time to have it. So, we ordered their second speciality, XO Fish Bee Hoon Soup @ S$7.00 per serving.Price has been increased to $1. It was $6.00per serving last year.

We waited for 20minutes just to get a bowl of it. I ordered the fried fish and the sliced fish is thick and the meat is tasty when it goes with the XO sauce. The portion was generous with the fried slice fish and I can't finish it all.

I was impressed with the taste of the XO soup base. It's worth trying it but i will not wait for so long unless i have extra time. We had a rush lunch as the waiting time is way too long. There are many people ordered this when we had our lunch there. Definitely a good place to recommend though.

Mid Autumn Festival is coming soon and you start to see people posting photos and website showing mooncakes from various brands. Interesting packagings from hotels and restaurants are promoting on their mooncakes. Thanks to Openrice and Xin Cuisine, Holiday Inn Atrium for the invite last week. I got to have a different experience of mooncake with wine pairing.

We were introduced to the traditional mooncakes and snowskin mooncake.

The traditional mooncakes come in 3 different flavors (Normal lotus paste with egg yolk , X.O sauce with assorted nuts Mooncake & Xin’s Mini Special Egg Custard with egg yolk)X.O Sauce with assorted nuts mooncake (S$56) . A medley of luxurious nuts surround Xin’s special homemade X.O sauce delivering a multitude of sensations to the palate. It is quite different from the traditional ones and it tends to taste sweet and the assorted nuts crunchy that blends into the paste.

Xin’s Mini Special Egg Custard with egg yolk Mooncake (S$52) which celebrates its Silver Jubilee this year as a perennial favourite handcrafted by Chef Cheung Kin Nam. The best seller and award winning mooncake has been a gem to the taste buds of many, embellished by its rich, smooth and endless elegance of enchanting creamy custard and a lightly bake outer crust. True enough the taste is quite unique and it has the smooth finishes with not too sweet taste. It blends well with the wine wine pairing. Surprisingly not too heavy or overwhelming!Green Tea Lotus Paste with Chivas Chocolate Snowskin Mooncake (S$50) with rich whisky ganache complementing the smooth texture of the green tea lotus paste. Something different with good combination of taste. Green tea lotus is not too sweet and it compliments well with the chivas chocolate. The taste of the chivas chocolate is outshining from the combination.

Black Sesame Paste with Peanut and Chocolate Snowskin Mooncake (S$50). The range of flavor will delight those who love a robust taste and a hit with those who enjoy Reese Peanut Butter cups. Something different for those who loves to explore new taste.

Next we have the lastest creation by Chef Cheung, The Passion Fruit Paste Snowskin Mooncake (S$50). The tangy and refreshing taste is wonderfully complemented with fresh mango. I can taste the mango taste immediately when I put it into my mouth.They also offer Xin’s Mini Snowskin Peranakan Mooncake with Durian Paste (S$50) which was presented with a purplish blue gem naturally flavoured with the Blue Pea flower which has a fragrant and luxurious durian filling. Thumbs up for this!I can taste the pure durian taste in it. It would be best to eat it after a while. Defrost the mooncake and you can taste the sinful durian paste!

There are more flavors available in Xin Cuisine. The visually appealing Sourrsop and Chocolate Crunch snowskin Mooncake (S$50) and Champagne Chocolate and Pandan Lotus Paste Snowskin Mooncake (S$50). Teochew Yam Paste with Single Egg Yolk (S$52) is also available as well.

Not to mention that the packaging has very loud and vibrant colour design. This definitely a plus point to attract the public to purchase the mooncake. It can be re-used as fashion too!Red and white wines are served to match with the different types of mooncakes too. Something different to pair with and definitely could be a new trend to try out! Perfect evening to ended with nice foods & drinks and great people!

For More photos, check out the blog details at http://hazeldiary.com/?p=2146