The Star Vista at Buona Vista offers a large number of eateries and restaurants. The addition of Gan Yakitori Japanese Restaurant on the 2nd floor increases the wide range of dining options which is good for foodie like me.

I did my research before I organized a department lunch at Gan Yakitori. According to The Star Vista website which introduces this restaurant as one of their tenants, Gan Yakitori uses bincho charcoal for great taste. Bincho charcoal is the most suitable fuel for grilled dishes and all their yakitori are carefully grilled to perfection by their Japanese chef. Gan Yakitori also uses 100% Japanese rice and their special chicken soup is painstakingly boiled for over 8 hours with loadful of ingredients and it is "MSG free".

Satisfied with the research, we organized an early Christmas lunch at Gan Yakitori today with 9 of my colleagues.We arrived at the restaurant at 12noon and the Japanese Manager led us to a long dining table reserved for 10 pax. The waitress provided us with clean napkins to wash our our hands while we were looking at the set lunch menu.

Unaiju Teishoku (Charcoal Eel Set)
Most of us ordered the unagi set lunch. The original price for the set lunch was $19+. They are having a special promotion (30% discount) and offering it at $13+. It was a good deal as we know good quality unagi is quite pricey. For those who do not know unagi, it is a savory and slightly sweet freshwater eel. The two pieces of unagi fillet were placed on top of the yellow colored  "egg noodles" and the Japanese rice at the bottom. The first bite of the unagi was unbelievable. The Japanese Chef did a great job by grilling the unagi to the right texture, infusing with sauce and reducing the the excess fat making it really delicious. My colleagues shared the same sentiments and they finished all their unagi. I believe the Japanese chef was highly trained to grill the unagi in order to achieve this perfect taste.

Buta Don Teishoku (Pork & Onion with Egg Yolk Rice Set)
This set lunch costs $12.80. The egg yolk was nested nicely in the middle of the pork and onion rice set bowl. Only one colleague ordered this set and his verdict was not bad. The pork was just nice for him and and the sauce was not too sweet.Mizutaki Nabe Teishoku (Chicken and Vegetables with Soup Hot Pot Set)
This set lunch costs $14.80. The presentation was not bad and it looks like steamboat served in a hot pot. Similarly, although only one colleague ordered this set, she likes it for the simplicity (tender chicken meat, vegetables and tofu cooked in the hot pot) and served well with a bowl of fragrant Japanese rice.Overall, it is a good place for a simple lunch with friends, relatives or colleagues. Their popular set lunch range from $12.80 to $14.80 and usually it includes a bowl of soup and small salad. Drinks are not included and you can order Iced or Hot Green Tea at $1per cup (complimentary refill). All prices are subjected to 10% Service Charge and 7% GST.

 

We heard Morganfield's offers fabulous set lunch. My colleague and I decided to lunch in at their Star Vista Branch which is within walking distance from our office.

Located on the second floor of The Star Vista, the restaurant is huge and you can pick the corner window seat for a beautiful view of the greenery surrounding. The restaurant is decorated to the theme of American style.We did not make any reservation and we walked in directly. We did not have to wait too long and we were ushered to a comfortable seats. After browsing their menu, we decided to order their "Oinkingly Top Value Set Lunch".

Beer Battered Fish Fillet
The fish fillets were huge, tasty and fresh. The fish meat was smooth and tender. I like it But I wondered why they named it as "beer battered"?Black Pepper Chicken Chop
The chicken thigh was awesome and delicious but it was rather small. The fish fillet serving was more generous. French fries were nice with chilli sauce.Soup of the Day
Each set lunch comes with complimentary soup of the day and a cold/hot drink. It is quite value for moneyChocolate Lava Cake
We shared the Chocolate Lava Cake. The hot chocolate cake melts in your mouth like lava flowing out from the volcano. The ice cream was just nice and not too sweet to compliment the chocalate cake. Overall, it was really a good lunch and it was value for money. I like the ambience as it was quiet and you will have a lot of privacy. The waitresses' customer services were good and they offered us hot napkins at the end of the meal.

We had our lunch at Grandma's Restaruant as we wanted to try out their local arrays of dish, prepared in a conventional way, just the way Grandma used to cook it.We tried Grandma's fried rice as it was a promotion item, selling at $5.80 each. We ordered one plate each and as soon as they served it to us, we regretted our decision as the serving was huge! The fried rice was fragrant and there was three peeled prawns.We ordered the Mini Ngoh Hiang. For those who may not be familiar with Ngoh Hiang, it is a minced meat roll wrapped in beancurd skin in the form of spring roll. It is reasonable.For vegetable, we ordered the Kang Kong stirred fried with sambal chilli. It was cooked in spices blended with a combination of chilli, shallots, garlic and belacan. I like it!As we know curry is always one of the dishes that most Singaporean craves for, we could not resist from trying Grandma's Curry Chicken. The curry tasted just right with the right spices and the curry chicken drumlets and chicken wings were delicious.For those with Facebook account, you can enjoy complimentary Iced Tea if you like Grandma's Facebook.Overall, their tastes and pricing are reasonable. Their customers services are above expectations.

This has to be one of the best deal I enjoyed in 2014

Mayim Chinese Cuisine is located in Northpoint Shopping Mall. We had two good hours to wait before the movie's screening at Yishun Golden Village, so we decided to try Mayim's Buddha Jump Over the Wall and Whole Abalone Set Dinner Menu.Mayim is usually packed with shoppers over the weekend, naturally as people started to enjoy sit down dinner after their "retail therapy". You have to be prepared to wait if you arrive after 7pm during the peak period, especially weekends or Public Holiday. We waited for a good ten minutes before we were ushered to a table for two. There was a long queue behind us.

This Set Dinner Menu was really awesome. I will introduced each of the dish.

Buddha Jump Over the Wall
This came by default with the set. They did not compromise on the quality though it was part of a set dinner. The original a la carte price was S$28. It was served hot and the Chinese soup consisted of all the goodies you can imagine such as slice abalone, dried scallop, fish maw, mushroom, shark's fin, sea cumcumber, chicken pieces, dried bamboo shoots and chinese ham. I really love it!!!New Zealand Deep Green Abalone
This also came by default with the set. Each of us was served a whole piece of abalone. The abalone was from New Zealand and it was very tasty, chewy and amazing. The original a la carte price was S$35. I really love it!Stewed Sakura deep sea King Prawn with flavored bean thread
This dish is under Mix & Match Menu which you can select from a listing of dishes as part of the set. The prawn was not as huge as the menu photo but it was very fresh and the skins were easily peeled from the prawn. The bean thread was delicious. I wish they had served more bean thread.Golden Prawn Coated with Mayonnaise Sauce
This dish is is under Mix & Match Menu which you can select from a listing of dishes as part of the set. The prawn was fried to the right texture (golden colored) and coated with mayonnaise sauce for the perfect taste!

Golden Fried Scallop stuffed with cuttlefish paste in spiced salt
This dish is under Mix & Match Menu which you can select from a listing of dishes as part of the set. The scallop was huge and enclosed with the "capsule". The external of the "capsule" was covered with cuttlefish. This is the perfect seafood experience when you combine scallop and cuttlefish together!Chilled Mango Pudding with Strawberry
This chilled dessert came by default with the set. There were real slices of mango hidden inside the bowl of mango pudding as you digged in. A good comfort food to wrap up for the dinner!Overall, we enjoyed our dinner very much. The total worth of the dishes was really more than what you would have paid for, compared to if you have ordered the dish separately. The quality of the food were high. The waitresses' customer services were reasonable as they were too busy serving a crowed and packed restaurant. We would definitely make a return trip.

My wife won $100 dining voucher to be utilized in House of Seafood chains of restaurant. We decided to try out the branch along Upper Serangoon Road.

Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre reminded me of Golden Miles Complex - especially the look and feel of the interior shops. We took a while to find the restaurant which is located on the third floor. The directional signs put up by the restaurant along the way are useful.House of Seafood is famous for their crabs! Their famous crab dishes include Black Pepper Crab, Chilli Crab, Golden Creamy Butter Crab and Salted Egg Crab.  If this is your first visit, I will highly recommend you to try their Black Pepper Crab for a start. The price of the crabs depends on the weight of the crab and accordingly to the seasonal market rate. Hence, please enquire the price with the restaurant Captain prior to order of crabs. As we have tried their famous crabs previously, we decided to skip the crabs and try other a la carte seafood dishes.

We ordered Braised Beancurd with Fresh Crab Meat, Scallop with seasonal Vegetable, Coffee-flavored Pork Ribs, Fish Maw and Crab Meat Broth, Fried Chicken with Honey Sauce and Fish Fillet with vegetable. Among the dishes, my first personal favorite dish was Scallop with Asparagus. The scallops were fresh, huge and chewy. My second personal favorite dish was the Fried Chicken. The chicken meat were marinated with honey sauce which made it really tasty and delicious. The Fish Fillet were very fresh and it helped as it was not too filling.

The rest of the dishes tasted reasonable and comparable to other equivalent seafood restaurants. Please take note that the serving for the fish maw was too huge for the two of us. Luckily, the restaurant Captain recommended that we ordered the smaller size. You need to enjoyed the broth while it was hot or else it would become too starchy.Overall, we enjoyed our dinner though we did not ordered their best seller crabs!