Chomp Chomp Food Centre is one of the classic hawkercentres in Singapore where you can bring your foreign friend to introduce all kinda of hawker food. They have everything under one roof. Literally. This place is also next to Serangoon Gardens where there are plenty of bars and restaurants. Bookmark this under the next place to visit for a group outing!Satay (10 for $5) is a must-have for me in this hawker feast! This was not the best, but yummy enough to satisfy my minimum expectations. It would have been more ideal if there was more meat and juicier too. But I guess it's a trend in hawker centres where stallholders scrimp a bit more on satay portions. The satay sauce was thick and concentrated with fragrant peanuts!

*SCAPE has encountered swindling numbers of shoppers in the past years, but there has been a shift in tenants occupying the first floor of this quirky but isolated shopping mall. One of the restaurants that has been garnering a lot of attention is Fish Tales which has a seafood based menu.This cafe-restaurant adopts an open-concept that goes against all things saintly about private dining. Passers-by may be enticed into trying their menu when they see it.Despite opening for one month, this cafe appears to have kinks to sort out. The clam chowder tasted like it was straight from a can, and the croutons were not at all crispy. They also forgot to serve this until we asked. The other one was supposed to be a side dish of Popcorn Fish, but I could only taste a sliver of fish at the centre... the rest was just fried flour batter.The Fiery Fish & Chips is the signature dish of Fish Tales. The sambal chilli sauce was very spicy but satisfying, though I felt something was missing - perhaps a sour element within the sauce and not just drizzling lemon juice over. Just like most other fish fillets, this was tender and smooth with a slight excess of flour batter.This was the Prawn Aglio Olio which hit my most basic requirements - the subtle yet determined level of spiciness of an aglio olio dish. While the pasta was cooked al dente, it was slightly bland. Perhaps when they cooked it, they should have soaked it in the saltwater a little longer. The rest of the dish was passable but definitely not spectacular. For a meal slightly over $10 (main + side dish + drink), I find that it wasn't value-for-money.

For more reviews: http://www.amiehu.com/2014/07/fish-tales-scape.html#more

Hippopotamus has been around in the basement of Marina Square for as long as I can remember - way before the overhaul of Suntect City or the development of the Dining Edition. This restaurant of Parisian roots developed their range of meats and prides themselves on offering one of the most affordable steaks in Singapore. I supposed that they recently revamped their menu due to the stiff competition they face in the region with so many exciting dining options around. Let's take a look at some of the dishes!The first appetizer, poached egg with red wine, was rather peculiar-looking and would entice the adventurous foodies. Upon the first impact, the poached egg melted into a yolk pool together with the red wine sauce. The strange thing is, I could hardly taste the tartness or fragrance of the red wine even though I could visibly see it. For me, the poached egg was too raw - perhaps another thirty seconds in the boiling water would be great. On top of that, there was no distinct red wine taste as promised. The bacon strips were a little incompatible with the dish too. Perhaps a sprinkle of black pepper would make it better.The second appetizer was the tomato tartare with guacamole. My first impression was a positive one because the tiger prawns are so photogenic! The ensemble was a very juicy and refreshing one, with diced tomatoes, coriander, onions and lime. There was a dash of olive oil and to pair it with the guacamole avocado paste was quite lovely. It was a cool combination of flavours... in a good way.The third appetizer, the french onion soup did not appeal to me that much in appearance and taste. It was rather nondescript with a soggy bread bowl.My choice of the mains at Hippopotamus is the Hippo Cheese Burger, which was accompanied with fries and a side: potato gratin, as well as sauce: BBQ sauce. Other sides that you may select other than potato gratin includes the sauteed mushrooms, baked potato, steamed vegetables and fries. You can also choose other sauces such as bearnaise, shallots, pepper, mushroom and even sambal. The gratin retained potato as its star ingredient and had a thin coat of cheese and butter to flavour it. I liked it this way. The fries were crunchy and lightly salted. The cheeseburger itself was relatively a disappointment - while the ciabatta buns were a premium choice for bread in burgers, the beef was quite tough to bite and did not live up to my expectations. It was too messy to eat as a whole unless your mouth is big enough and there was hardly any cheese to hold the burger together.The beef skewer (200g) is a medley of the different cuts: sirloin, rump and hanger steak. Requested to be medium rare but it feels more well-done to the bite.The desserts performed better: the french toast nutella would have been pleasantly sinful if you are hungry enough. It was topped with a scoop of ice-cream which does not taste as premium as Haagen-Daaz standards but I love sweet treats so that didn't bother me too much.Their strawberry cheesecake was satisfyingly yummy. With a delightful swirl of sweetness from the strawberry fruity toppings, the slight tinge of tartness from a suspected yogurt dose, it was less predictable than I thought it would be. The biscuit base of the cheesecake could have been given more attention rather than a customary appearance though.

I would say that I am not a fan of beef, and Hippopotamus did little to change that impression. While their desserts are passable, most of the dishes require more attention in terms of presentation as well. While it seems like I'm quite critical of their food, there is a need to take into consideration the mettle of their strong competitors in the Dining Edition just upstairs as well.

For the menu:
http://www.amiehu.com/2014/06/hippopotamus-marina-square.html#more

Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant is one of the many dimsum places in Bugis-Dhoby-Ghaut-City Hall area, located in Bugis Junction itself. Besides their giant steamed buns and extensive dimsum offerings, they also offer set menus that are suitable for family gatherings.I found their minced pork noodles (affectionately known as zha jiang mian) was a little flat and could do better with more black bean chilli sauce, vinegar and hoisin sauce. The julienned cucumber were also at this strange room temperature - I'd prefer it chilled. I am a little picky when it comes to this dish because it is my personal favourite when it comes to noodles at Chinese restaurants.Their baked salted egg yolk cream buns (otherwise known as custard buns) were surprisingly good. The rough crumbly skin was a refreshing change as compared to the usual pristine-white dough, and the salted egg yolk fillings were sufficient for a good kick in flavours in saltiness and not as buttery as Victor's Kitchen's version. It will be advisable to eat it immediately once served (ie. don't take too long taking pictures!) because after my first custard bun, I spent the next twenty minutes eating other dishes before going back - the texture changed quite drastically.The crispy vietnam style seafood spring rolls were wrapped in crispy tasty netting with fresh and springy prawns inside! One of my favourites out of all the dishes.The king-sized Nanxiang crab roe bun was supposedly the restaurant's signature dish, but it was quite disappointing to find that this humongous bun to be so difficult to eat. The soup was also not authentic as a crab roe soup - I found remnants of crabstick trying to disguise its way as real crab meat. The using of a bubble stick straw to suck up the soup was also rather weird and not enjoyable as drinking the soup normally... the bun also stuck to the wooden container and was wayyy too thick and sticky to be edible. Overall, this dish was quite a fail.I liked the Shanghai pan-fried prawn dumplings which didn't require vinegar or additional flavourings to make it work. A slight wokhei taste and juicy prawns that were similarly delicious to the ones in the spring rolls.I suddenly realized that we had quite an appetite that day, eh? This was the crab meat and pork filling steamed buns as well as the normal pork filling steamed buns (also xiao long bao) - while the soup was tasty and passable, the skin was too thick to be okay. The supposed crab roe steamed buns also tasted like the pork filling steamed buns.

I think there are more misses than hits at Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant. For a "steamed bun" restaurant, they aren't at all good with them - I would say go with their pan-fried dumplings, spring rolls and custard buns but skip those steamed buns. For those who raved about Nanxiang, it really isn't anywhere near the best and Asia Grand would be your better (and value-for-money) bet in the region.

For full review & menu: http://www.amiehu.com/2014/06/nanxiang-steamed-bun-restaurant-bugis.html

The Assembly Ground is all things hipster except for its location. Taking a different approach as compared to other cafes, this newly sprung up cafe that took over the space owned by the previous tenant, Gramaphone in The Cathay. Movie-goers can now look forward to enjoying a cuppa and a chillin' spot before and after going to the cinemas.Their Eggs Benji ($16) was served with double poached eggs and ham doused with hollandaise sauce - all resting atop not-too-toasted buttery brioche. For the non-picky eaters, it would be wonderful as the poached eggs had yolks that were slightly runny and well, the rest can't get too wrong. Nonetheless, I found that it wasn't value-for-money at a whopping $16 - you could easily get the same satisfaction at half this price elsewhere (Hint: W39).Their pulled pork pizza ($18) was interesting; pulled pork was usually seen in burgers. I liked how it made a complement with these pizzas that were baked to crispy crunchiness even though it is a little dry. I also tried their bacon croquettas ($10), give crumbly floury potato balls that was deep fried to satisfying crunchiness. For the food, I found them ridiculously priced very high. Sure, there was rent to think of, but if you want to think about the demographics of the crowd hangs around here (ie. teenagers, young adults) - I doubt they can afford to keep coming in here and pay such a price as a pre- or post- movie spot to chill out.You are better off trying out the drinks. This is my green tea latte ($5.50) which was brewed to delicious exquisiteness, a balance of strong matcha and distinct caffeine taste.