I was really disappointed with the food at Xin Wang, and if it wasn't for the good company I had, this will be quite a disastrous night. There was a very bad traffic jam along Dunearn Rd and it was raining too, making this restaurant rather inaccessible. I must say that I was glad the place was quite empty, so I didn't have to wait.

After placing our orders, they took nearly 20 minutes to serve the first dish and 30 minutes to finish serving everything - when the place isn't even half-filled! One of our orders was just fish and chips, which didn't even need much waiting time to make like the cheese baked rice with mushrooms I ordered. Then, the baked rice itself wasn't that good as well, the rice was really soggy with the sauce and the only saving grace of the dish was the cheese spread over it. The rest of my friends who ordered other dishes like their mui fan, baked rice, and fish & chips were all of lackluster quality. The most shocking thing is how awful their fries tasted like, it is the worst fries I've ever tasted. I was tempted to ask them to redo again, but my friends stopped me and reminded me of the atrocious waiting time. It was very obvious that the oil was reused, and the fries were just so crumpled and stiff. Then, whenever we needed the attention of the waitresses/waiters, it was such a challenging task. Many of them just walked past us while ignoring us when we called for their attention. When we did get their attention finally, they didn't even bother to be polite or smile but just "okay" and fulfill our request. Overall it was a terrible experience and I am never going back there again and will advise my friends against going to this place. Nothing worth going for, and the money could have been better spent elsewhere. To think they actually charged GST! The meal actually cost around $18/pax for just a main course and a drink, which is terrible. Not worth it at all.

I was craving for dimsum for eons, and when my friends and I walked past this restaurant while searching for a lunch spot, we agreed with this place almost immediately. Upon entering, we were kind of confused how the ordering works except that there was a sign that says $2.20 per barrel. After lingering around for some time without anyone noticing us, we seated ourselves in one of the empty tables.

There were two sections to the restaurant: the outside section devoted to churning out their dimsum delights, the inside section in charge of delivering the main courses like noodles and dishes. The boss of the main-course section came to pass us two menus with the main courses and asked if we were here to eat the main course or dimsum or a mix.

After we told him we want to eat dimsum, he took back the two menus and left us alone. We went to the front to look at the dimsum which were displayed for everyone to see. For a moment we actually thought that those dimsum were plastic model displays. The boss and lady boss were both busy with this customer ordering a bulk order. We were further ignored for a few minutes before they told us to pick a few barrels that we wanted.

We chose four barrels of dimsum including the standard dumplings, siew mai, xiao long bao and another dumpling looking thing. We also ordered cha siew bao and egg tarts. It’s kind of uncomfortable because the barrels were displayed there for goodness knows how long. I don’t think it’s very fresh like this.

Anyway they told us to go back to our table to wait. The boss picked up the barrels and went to the back of the kitchen (I suppose to heat them up). The lady boss passed us the cha siew bao and egg tarts from the front section.

It was disappointing on many ends. It was not even particularly nice despite the fact that I was starving. The cha siew bao and egg tarts’ temperature was at room temperature. It was not even as good as those 5mins takeaway places. The taste of the cha siew would actually be pretty good if only the temperature is warmer. They didn’t even bother heating it up. The dimsum tasted delicious but I still can’t get over the fact that they don’t make it fresh. I love dimsum so it’s really difficult to make me dislike it. It’s just a rather uncomfortable eating experience. The portion was also extremely small for $2.20 – as far as I know many other places sell cheaper and in greater proportions.

The worst part is, they actually charged us for the appetizer (a plate of veggies) which we did not order and it was not nice at all. We only ate two slices of cucumbers from that in total. See the pink plate in the middle that we did not order The bill came up to $16+ including GST and service charge. We were wondering why such little amount of food can actually reach $16, so we asked the boss why how it came up to this figure. It was then he revealed that the appetizer was included in the bill! We didn’t order any drinks, it was only plain water.

I felt thoroughly cheated and angry but didn’t bother to go argue with them. Never going back there again. Ugh I still feel angry now.

It's really not that they can't cook delicious food, but the way they run their business is quite irritating. I realized most HK restaurants in Singapore works like this and they always serve appetizer that they intend to charge without informing customers. Bleh. I will take note next time :<

Long John Silver is my favourite fast-food restaurant. Unfortunately, my visit to this particular branch in Causeway Point has made me lost my faith in LJS, at least for a little while. I ordered the standard 2-pc chicken combo, my favourite order everytime I go to LJS. What that was served to me was shockingly overcooked. (I did not take a photo of it because it did not look appetising.) Although it was not burnt, I was quite sure that the chicken pieces look very carcinogenic. I ended up peeling off the skin of the chicken and only eating the inner parts.

What's all the rage in April? Timbre+. Some people call it the hipster hawker centre - is this where our future is headed - others, the 'new one-north place with containers and stationary food trucks'. You should have seen this plastered all over your social media newsfeed by now, but I'm visiting it only when the hype has died down a bit more. Lucky, because otherwise, it would have probably even a notch more stuffy and crazily warm. The first impression was really: sweat is pouring down me like it just rained. I don't normally sweat a lot and this is really insane humidity. Despite the huge fans installed everywhere, it was still really warm. But after a while, it was slightly better. Well, we are after all in Singapore.I like the concept of it, it's generally really new-age, funky... there's character in it, and I like how its entry into the food scene makes it more vibrant. There are many stalls in Timbre+, you're bound to find something you like. Not everything is on the premium end like Dancing Crab, there are many usual type of hawker stalls selling your ban mian, chicken rice, fishball noodles and nasi padang too. I don't think it's my last time here, I'll definitely be back to check out how it looks like when there's music bands playing in here. But here goes my first time in Timbre+:From the corner, there's Portico Platos where we got a plate of chicken paella for 6 bucks (not including additional 1 dollar for the tray - their idea of making people return trays). Plating and color presentation wise, pretty fantastic but its taste falters, which was quite disappointing. We were really late to be part of the lunch crowd at 2pm, but the dry and cold rice and chicken could hardly pass the mark. Granted the chicken was tender and generally flavourful, we both agreed it was average.The fruit juice stall must be really popular in this oven, I got a green apple and yakult drink for $2.50. They have thirst-quenchers going at $1.50-2.50, with plenty of fruit juice combinations. We also got the salted egg fries from Kushi at $8.50 which was pretty expensive in hindsight for what it is, essentially just fries with a salted egg sauce dip. Then again, we could sit there for ages and have finger food while chatting which is a major plus for us.

I obviously haven't tried a lot of the food at Timbre+ yet. Based on the choices I made, it has yet to impress me. It is a cool concept for sure, very different and interesting to be in, but the food really has to make up for the stuffiness in order to keep people coming. I would go back and try Fishball Story and a couple of other stalls for a second chance though, since I haven't had the full experience of Timbre+ yet.

For the full review: www.amiehu.com

We were attracted to La Marelle cafe for its pink exterior, and off we went, up the stairs to its cozy 2nd and 3rd floor interior space. There was shelves of vintage and quirky doll figurines, card games (Sushi Go, Cards Against Humanity, etc) to play with, which was wonderful to kill time with a group of friends.

I wasn't too hungry so my friend and I shared a bolognese pasta which was served oddly on a brown paper in a basket - smart way to save manpower and water. The bolognese sauce feels rather diluted, sour and without much herbs or salt to taste. For a cafe, it was lacklustre. We didn't try the other mains so perhaps this is a bad choice to order. The salvaging point is that it was a huge portion, and the cafe staff were really nice and patient people.