Visit to Paradise Dynasty at Orchard Ion 4th floor

A couple of weeks back, my friend and I visited a new Chinese Restaurant on the 4th floor of Orchard Ion. It is called Paradise Dynasty and is opened by the Taste Paradise group. It specialized in Xiao Long Bao and their special item is the eight flavours xiao long bao which is shown below. They also served la mien and a selection of side dishes and Shanghai and Beijing Dim Sum.

The first item to come is the 8 flavours xiao long bao. It consists of the original flavour, gingseng flavour, foie Gras, black truffle, cheese flavour, crab roe, garlic and sichuan flavour. They even recommend a sequence to have the various flavours. The most memorable one is the Ginseng flavour. You really get to enjoy the flavour of the ginseng and it goes very well with the soft and tender meat filling. Highly recommended. 

My friend had the beef brisket la mien. He did not fancy it so much as the soup based do not complement well with the rich taste of the beef. The soup in a way made the beef taste be diluted.

For myself, I had the seafood La mien. For this dish, the soup complemented well with the seafood as the seafood flavour was well infused in the soup. I found this dish quite good.

The next dish is the jellyfish. This is one of the best I had. the texture was chewy and it was complemented with a excellent sauce. Highly recommend ordering this dish.

Next is the Guo Tie. I loved it a lot though my friend was not too keen on it. The based was crisp as it was pan fried and the filling was full with the meat juice and the tender meat within it. 

 For the salad chicken, this is one of the dish which did not stick out.

The service was excellent and they also had a specialist to pour the tea into your cup using the big teapot and pouring a distance from the table. The decoration of the place was also very sleek. Best part of all, the prices of some of the items are not as expensive as suggested from the decoration of the place.

Excellent place to visit to enjoy the xiao long bao.

One of my favourite Food Centre ( East Coast Lagoon )

East Coast Lagoon has been one of my favourite food centre. It has a huge variety of delicious local food, it is near the beach and there is great atmosphere where local and tourists enjoy the food under the moonlight.

The only inconvenience is that it is not that accessible for people who is staying not near the area. Usually it is a place that you would like to visit when you have a private transport. There is ample

A couple of months back, my mum friend who is from the UK visited Singapore and this was one of the place that we brought him for dinner to let him sample some of the local delights.

Photo of the entrance of the food village.

Name of the shop where I ordered the Char Siew Noodle.

Photo of the Char Siew Mee. The serving of the Char Siew is very generous. For this stall they used the sauce of the Char Siew as the gravy for the noodle. This give the noodle a sweet and rich taste. Quite excellent value for money.

Char Siew Kuay Teow. My guest really enjoyed this dish.

On the left of the picture is the chicken and lamb satay. On the right, it is the BBQ chicken. The satay was full of flavour and the lamb was especially delicious. The BBQ chicken has a tender texture with a lovely aroma.

Chinese Rojak. It is local salad which comprises of cucumber, dough fritter, cuttlefish, radish which is mixed with a prawn based sauce and roasted peanut.

Next is the grilled sting ray with sambal chilli. It looked intimating for my guest but he was game for it and took a bit to try. He found it a touch too spicy for him. For myself, I also found it too spicy and I needed to order 2 ice cold drink to quench the fire in my mouth.

The below is the fried oyster omelet. My guest did not try this as he does not like oyster. However this is one of my favourite dish. The egg is fried to a crisp and it goes well with the quickly cooked oyster and the chilli. Fantastic dish!!

The below is the dessert that we had which is a chilled jelly and an ice kacang which is a local dessert. Perfect for an evening under the moonlight.

My guest really enjoyed the experience as well as he was amazed with the myriad of delicious food all located in one area. This was the type of experience he was looking forward when he came to Singapore.

Tasting of Wines from Alsace in France

Recently I had the opportunity to attend a trade tasting of various wines from the Alsace region in France. Alsace is located on the France eastern border and adjacent to Germany and Switzerland.

This is a region in which wine cultivation has been going on for centuries which reached its peak in the 16th century. It was disrupted by the Thirty Years' war which devasted the region and it only started to recover only after the First World War when the focus was getting the best quality wines.

In this region, the main focus of the grape varieties are Sylvaner, Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Muscat D'Alsace, Piont Gris, Gewurztraminer and Pinot Noir. Among all the grape varieties, only the pinot noir is made as a red wine. The rest are all whites. Hence Alsace is a region famous for the quality of their white wines. Two of the most famous grape varietals from that region would be Riesling and Gewurztraminer.

During the tasting, I managed to try quite a few different style of Riesling from Alsace. There is quite a different taste between the Alsace Riesling and the Riesling from Germany. The Riesling from Alsace are more of a drier style with a refined and delicate fruitness. Some of which also have mineral notes. Personally I prefer the German Riesling as it is not so dry and like the sweetness of the German Riesling especially the Spatlese.

However the Alsace Gewurztraminer is something which I enjoyed. It has a full body with a very rich bouquet of sweet fruits,flowers and spice. It is also full of flavour and totally enjoyable.

I also managed to try a bit of the Pinot Blanc. It is a dry style white as well which is well rounded and delicate. The one which I tried did not have a long finish. There is a good acidity and will go well with seafood.

It was really an eye opening experience and really let me know more about Riesling as have always tried German Riesling and thought Riesling in general is of the sweeter variety. I also was surprised about the Alsace Gewurztraminer.

The below is a photo of a bottle of Riesling from Alsace. The design of the bottle is always this elegant shape.

Photo from Wine foot

Peranakan Dinner at Vivocity

The other day my family decided to try something different as have always been having Chinese food and Western food. We decided to try a Peranakan outlet at Vivocity. It is located next to Tung Lok Seafood. The outlet is known as Nyonya and Baba Peranakan Crusine.

We decided to order a couple of dishes to try.

Appertizer is Archar.

The next dish is the mixed vegetable nonya style. I did not really find it that nice though. 

It is followed by  the satay chicken. This is my favourite dish as the sauce is very tasty and go well with the plain rice which is served.

The below is a photo of a chendol. This is very refreshing.

The below is the sambal sotong. I would prefer if it has more gravy. It will then go better with rice.

Five Spices meat roll. This is very good. The exterior is crispy and the inside is juicy.

The last dish is the chilli crayfish. This dish was not really that impressive.

In summary, the food was ok as there is some highlights but some lowlights as well. 

Lunch @ Tony Roma's ( Suntec Outlet)

Last weekend, my parents and I went for lunch at Tony Roma. It is a place which I have wanted to visit many times but never end up there. When we were there my dad told us the portion served here is large, and when the dishes started to come, can see what he meant.

The complimentary starter is a bread with garlic spread.

Next is our order of the Tony Roma appertizer platter. It consists of cheese roll, chicken wing and potato skin with bacon and cheese. The best of the lot is the potato skin with bacon and cheese.

First my dad order arrived which is the half roast chicken. The size of the roast chicken was huge. It looks more like a turkey then chicken. The chicken meat was tender and delicious as I took a sample to try.

My mum had the steak and fried prawn combo. According to her the beef was good but the breaded prawn was a bit disappointing.

I had thier famous ribs with breaded prawns. The ribs was superb. It is tasty and easy to cut. Really loved it a lot. The prawn was nothing to shout about.

It was a nice and filling lunch. I think I will go with their ribs and chicken combo the next time when I visit the place again.

Dinner at Rakuzen at Milennia Walk first floor

My dad and I had dinner at a Japanese Restaurant at Milennia Walk. The restaurant name is Rakuzen. The service experience was excellent right from the moment we were entering the restaurant. We were warmly welcome and service for the drinks and the refills of the drink was very prompt.

The menu had a wide selection of Japanese dishes ranging from sashimi, sushi, japanese style grilled, japanese orientated Chinese Food, various rice sets, appertizers and fried selection.

We ordered the following items shown below.

The first dish was a salmon, salmon belly and salmon roe sashimi. The salmon was very fresh and really the salmon belly was excellent. It has a richer taste and the meat had a better texture. The salmon roe was very nice though a bit salty :)

Next is the grilled squid. Unlike other places where the grilled squid will come with a sauce, this came without any sauce, which gave me some doubt about the dish. However when I tried the first slice of the squid, my pre-judgement was way of the mark. It was excellent. It was just grilled with salt. The meat was a bit crisp on the exterior but it just managed to maintain the water content in the squid. This gave the squid a very nice chewy texture. Favourite dish !!

Next was the spider roll. ( Actually it is soft shell crab maki covered with roe) The crispyness of the crab which is covered with the warm rice and generously coated with the roe gave this dish and extra dimension. The roe on the rice when u bite it will give a nice sensation which compliment the intial taste when you have the soft shell crab.

It was followed by the snow crab sushi on the left of the picture and the salmon belly sushi. As can be seen from the photo, the meat is bigger than the rice at the base. The sushi were yummy.

My dad had the grilled fish set. The fish was quite nice.

I had the Roast Pork Ramen with a pork based soup. The serving for the roast pork was generous. The meat had a very nice texture and flavour. The ramen was also delicious. The slight downside was I felt the soup was a bit too salty for me.

I really loved the sushi and the spider roll especially. It was an enjoyable dinner with good and efficient service and great food. Will plan another visit :)

Wine Dinner 2nd visit ( Burgundy wine theme) at Bistro Amigo

This is my second visit to Bistro Amigo at Funan Centre second floor to attend a Burgundy theme wine dinner. For this burgundy theme wine dinner, the wines that will be featured will be Pinot Noir which is a light bodied red wine. Hence the dishes that are designed for this dinner, will feature seafood and white meat. All the Pinot Noir featured were the 2006 vintage.

The first dish which I had was the prawns with orange. The prawns were very fresh and nicely prepared. It was paired with Sylvain Cathiard Vosne Romanee. Personally I liked this wine a lot as it is not tannic and as quite a light body. This is a wine that can go well on its own. 

The next dish was the Char Grilled Large Hokkaido Sea Scallop, Side Coated with Cauliflower, Light Garlic Mousseline topped with Basil Leaf, Romeso Sauce. It was paired with Perrot Minot Vosne Romanee. The scallop was excellent. It was full of flavour and it still maintains its water content which a lot of places are unable to do so. The sauce went perfectly with the flavour of the scallop and the crispy basil leaf gives the dish a nice touch. For the Perrot Minot, the wine is a bit more tannic than the first one and it went well with the dish that was presented.

The third dish was the grilled 'Live' Japanese Surf Clam, Cherry Tomato Confit, Sauteed Savory Cabbage, Caviers and Onion Foam. It was paired with Eugenie vosne Romanee Les Brulees. The gravy for this dish was out of this world. Super excellent ! It was full of the richness of the clam and the cabbage and Cavier further gave this dish additional dimension. The clam had a wonderful taste. However I did not really understand placing Onion Foam in this dish. Something unusual to see onion looking like foam :)

The wine that was paired with this dish was a bit more heavy on the palate compared to the first 2 wines.

The main course is the slow cooked Les Fermier Landais ( Yellow Chicken), Corn Mashed Potato, Sauteed Seasonal Vegetables, Chicken Red Wine Sauce, Truffles Oil Foam. It was paired with Robert Arnoux, Vosne Romanee Les Suchots. The chicken was superb. It was the first time that I have tried a chicken dish where the breast meat was even more tender the drumstick. The sauce was full of the flavour of the wine as well as the chicken.

For the wine, this one was the best among all of them. It has a nice body and it was not too tannic and you get to enjoy the grape flavour. Excellent wine.

The dessert was warm chocolate Moelleaux with vanilla ice cream and it was paired with a sherry. I found the sherry to be a bit strong but it actually goes well by pouring it over the ice cream and having it with the chocolate Moelleaux.

It was another wonderful experience with excellent food and wines. A very enjoyable experience :)

Lunch @ Majestic Restaurant

This afternoon, I went for lunch with my mum and aunt to the Majestic Restaurant at Cantonment Road. I had previously visited this restaurant for a company function and was very impressed with the food. Hence decided to visit again to try their a la carte menu.

We decided to try a few of their dim sum items as well as their mixed platter and a couple other dishes.

The below is the Char Siew Pau. It was quite good.

The next item was the scallop dumpling.

The har gaw was excellent as it was full of prawns and very flavourful.

The siew mai was also another excellent dish.

The next dish is the Peking Duck. The version that was prepared here was very good. The skin was very crispy and flavourful. The sauce that accompanied it was one of the best that I had. Highly recommended.

Majestic Platter. It consists of 4 of their popular items. There is the roast pork, deep fried soft shell crab, wasabi prawn and stirred fried crab meat with bean spouts served on the lettuce. All the dishes were excellent. Special mention for the soft shell crab and the wasabi prawns.

Pan Seared beef with sesame sauce. This is their signature dish. My mum and aunt loved it. It was so well prepared that the usual beef smell was completely removed and the texture had a melt in your mouth sensation.

The below is the Honey Glazed USA pork. This dish was the best. The meat was tender and juicy. It was so full of flavour and the two sauces that accompanied the dish gives the meat an additional dimension.

Brocoli stirred fried with garlic. It is a simple dish but the taste was very good. The service staff informed me that the brocoli was brough in from Mexico. Hence the unusual shape. The vege was crunchy and the combination of the fresh vege and the fried garlic was lovely.

This is the stirred fried duck meat from the Peking Duck with the Ee-fu mee. It was very well prepared and it had a bit of gravy unlike some places where it can be quite dry. 

The last item was the chempatek fried ice cream. The outer shell was a very thin crisp and inside of it was the ice cream. I feel the essential skill for this dish is that the ice cream inside must still be cold and not melting when you consumed it. They were able to accomplished it and the ice cream was also very rich. Super delicious.

The overall food experience was really superb and my mum and aunt were very impressed and will let their friends know about this place. The service was also very good.
This is one place where I highly recommend to visit if you really want to spend a bit for quality food.