The Whampoa Ngoh Hiang Prawn Cracker was a disappointment and pricey. Do check with the cashier if you do not want to get a shock as there is no price tag. I ordered 5 items and it cost me $7.80. Food was only average.

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For a limited period from 22 April to 12 May 2013, Straits Café at Rendezvous Grand Hotel Singapore has invited Korean guest Chef Kim Hyun Jung from Lotte World to present A Taste of Korea as part of its International buffet.

There are already quite a number of Korean restaurants in Singapore and most of us are rather familiar with Korean cuisine. Nevertheless, it is still worthwhile to visit Straits Cafe for their buffet as some of the Korean dishes prepared by Chef Kim Hyun Jung is not commonly served in local Korean restaurant.

Banchan (side dishes) is like a staple of Korean cuisine. At A Taste of Korea buffet, the spread also offers some side dishes such as Zucchini, Bean Sprouts, Kimchi and Vermicelli. My favourite among the side dishes is the kimchi.

This is quite interesting for my limited knowledge of Korean cuisine. The Korean Ginseng Soup exactly has rice in it and it felt like having a bowl of porridge instead of a bowl of soup. The hearty bowl of Korean Ginseng Soup was very comforting with ingredients such as chicken, water chestnut and ginseng. One can also add a pinch of sea salt to enhance the flavour further.I quite enjoy the Seabass and Zucchini Pancakes which has a nice thin coat of flour and egg batter. It was rather bland if eaten without sauces. The star was the dipping soy sauce that made the pancakes shone, accentuating the flavour and dimension of the dish.

Resembling our local curry chicken, the Korean version of Hot Spicy Chicken was rather mild and fiery free to the local palate.

The thinly sliced prime Beef Ribs was beautiful marinated and grilled to perfection. It was succulent and tender with a nice thin layer of fats. Probably the favourite among the diners as I noticed a couple of us went for more helpings of the beef ribs.

The selection of Rice Cake Rolls was Mustard (yellow), Cinnamon (Brown) and Green Tea (green). The chewy texture was quite enjoyable and the Honey Citron Tea was perfect to wash it down and cleanse the palate.

Pondok Rasa is 2 Indonesian words put together meaning humble cottage of flavours. The 4 month's old restaurant located at Marrison Hotel along Beach Road prides itself in offering authentic Medan food, with traditional home style recipes handed down over generations and exotic local spices imported directly from Medan (North East coast North Sumatra, Indonesia).

At a glance, the Nasi Tim Ayam looks like the Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice. The fragrant rice is topped with a stewed mix of chicken, button mushroom, black fungus, shitake mushroom. If you are a fan for Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice, you will love the Nasi Tim Ayam at Pondok Rasa.

The sumptuous Grilled Chicken Set comes with a huge grilled chicken drumstick accompied with Tofu, Tempeh and Vegetables sides. The grilled chicken although a bit charred on the skin tasted fabulous with the tender and moist chicken meat. The freshly made Sambal Balacan provided that extra kick to excite your taste buds. A must try dish.

Living in a diverse Singapore society, I have tried many different varieties of curry. The Kari/Curry Chicken at Pondok Rasa is rather different in my own option. Maybe I am more used to the thick, heavy and creamy types of curry gravy that is commonly found in Singapore, I find the curry here kind of bland and watery.

The Soto Medan came with a beautiful greenish gravy with fresh prawns swimming inside. Like the Kari/Curry Chicken's gravy, I prefer something more thick, heavy and creamy.

This is another uniquely Indonesian dish. Pecel which is vegetables in peanut sauce. The vegetables were long beans, bean sprouts, tapioca leaves, cucumbers and round cabbages. In addition, tofu, tempeh, emping and prawn crackers were added. I have mentioned in previous posts that I don't fancy this dish as I personally find the combination weird.

The simple and plain looking Indonesia Fried Rice is defintely the surprise of the day. The fragrant fried rice was very flavourful. Definitely something I will go back for.

The Mi Sop Ayam has a light and refreshing soup that is served with a mix of yellow noodle and vermicelli. Shredded chicken, carrort, spring onion, fried shallot completed the dish. For customers that like it to be spicy, they can add their signature dark coloured freshly made chilli into the soup. The restaurant does sell the chilli in bottled form but you need to pre-order a day in advance as they are freshly made to order.

The lack of sweetness for such a traditional dessert was the disappointment for the Es Cendol (Ice Chendol). Presentation has lot of rooms for improvement too. It will look more appertizing if it was served in crushed ice form instead of having a few ice cubes swimming in the bowl.

The Sekoteng at Pondok Rasa reminds me of the Chinese dessert Cheng Teng. It was sweet and refreshing with ingredients like corn kernel, dried orange skin and slasih. Likewise, presentation can be improved if it was served with crushed ice.

The Pisang Bumbu is the owner's favourite childhood food and the Chef has recreated the dish with a little twist. The Banana Fritter is served in a peanut sauce which is the exactly the way the owner likes to eat it in his childhood days. Is this a dessert dish with the sweetness from the banana and savoury from the peanut sauce? Nevertheless, the fish and chips looks alike banana fritter without the peanut sauce is already a winner.

I find the Kolak Pisang similar to our local dessert Bo Bo Cha Cha. It has the same ingredients such as sweet cocont soup, tapioca and sweet potato. In addition, it can be served either cold or hot. The different is corn kernel and banana are added to the Kolak Pisang.

If you are looking for traditional local chinese snack or breakfast, you can check out Rong Yuan Shu Shi Tan.

I find that the steamed Taro Cake was a bit disappointing as I prefer those that have chunks of yam. I could not really taste the yam flavour or find the contrast in texture I was looking for. Nevertheless, Rong Yuan's Taro Cake was moist and nice. Oh! and it came with peanuts.

Chwee Kueh is a common Singapore breakfast. It is basically steam rice flour topped with preserved radish (Chye Poh). Usually the preserved radish (Chye Poh) topping is sweet but Ghim Moh Chwee Kueh's version is different. This is the first time I have the salty version. According to what I googled on the web, this supposed to be the traditional receipt. It is kind if an acquired taste. Either you love it or hate it.