Swee Choon Tim Sum Restaurant 瑞春点心拉面小笼包

We finally had this dim sum after talking about this for a month! We visited this place a week and half ago but was closed because it was a Tuesday! But today we finally had it and it was awesome!!

Assortment dim sum

Assortment of dim sum

Xiao Long Bao

Custard Bao

Hor Fun

酸辣宋城萝卜糕 $1
萝卜糕 $2
奶黄流沙包 (3 pcs) $3.60
叉烧包 (2 pcs) $1.60
烧卖 (2 pcs) $1.80
虾饺 (2 pcs) $2.20
凤爪 $2.30
排骨 $2.50
面线糕 (6 pcs) $2
葡式蛋挞 (2 pcs) $3
小笼包 (4 pcs) $4
红油抄手 (4 pcs) $4
千层饼 $4.30
黄金豆腐 (6 pcs) $3.50
香蕉高丽豆沙 (3 pcs) $4
猪肠粉 $1.80
明虾角 (3 pcs) $4.20
滑蛋虾仁炒河粉 $5.50

The prices were so reasonable and the quality of food was beyond my expectations. The hor fun left a good impression as it encompassed  the “wok hei” which is not commonly found in Singapore. I also enjoyed the Portuguese egg tart very much. The pastry was light and flaky and the egg custard was just nice – not too hard, not too sweet. The 红油抄手 was good too. I liked it that the vinegar was fragrant and the combination of it with chilli oil was of good proportion. The 流沙包 had a good skin texture and the salted egg custard filling was generous. What I did not like was the cheong fun only. It was plainly garnished with soy sauce and sesame seeds accompanied with the sweet sauce. I was expecting the usual char siew / prawn cheong fun.

The restaurant also serves la mian, cooked dishes and desserts. Definitely going back for more!

Expect long queues but waiting time is usually quite fast. They do not allow seating until majority of the people have arrived.

Prices exclude 7% GST. No service charges.

Restaurant: Swee Choon Tim Sum Restaurant 瑞春点心拉面小笼包
Address: 185/187/189/191, Jalan Besar, Singapore 208882   (Drivers are recommended to park at the multi-storey carpark at Blk 638 and walk over.)
Tel: 6226 7788
Office: 6294 0070
Opening Hours: 6pm – 6am (Closed on Tuesdays)
Email: admin@sweechoon.com
Website: http://sweechoon.com

Bari Uma Ramen

My friend is going overseas for work (indefinitely) and he suggested we eat here together for his farewell. He said he will miss this ramen when he goes over to Philippines.

The sliding door is typical of a Japanese ramen shop. Once you stepped in, you are quickly filled with the fumes of the food. I really don’t like the smell of fumes. On the other hand, the food was superbly good. Skeptical of eating ramen in Singapore, this shop really changed my impression of ramen. Reasonably priced, the tonkatsu broth was surprising rich and flavourful without being too oily. I don’t usually eat the fats of char siew but my friend was so envious that my char siew was more fatty than his. So I took a bite of the fats and oh my, I can’t believe what I just ate. The fats melted in my mouth and was so so so delicious!!! I even commented that I will order a plate of tonkatsu serving the next time I come.

menu

nori uma ramen

ajitama ramen

The ramen was of the correct texture and temperature. I once read about the steps of cooking good ramen and its temperature which is not an easy skill.

gyoza

The gyoza was piping hot when served. The filling tasted perfect with the correct amount of chives not overpowering the whole gyoza’s taste. The vinegar matched them perfectly.

Gyoza  $6.50
Ajitama $15
Noriuma + egg $15.50
Green tea $1.50

Will be back for the tonkatsu! Till then, all the best my friend. It’s not goodbye. (Quoted from Laura Pausini – It’s Not Goodbye)

Prices exclude 7% GST and 10% service charges.

Restaurant: Bari Uma Ramen
Address: 19 Tanglin Road, #B1-01/02, Tanglin Shopping Centre, Singapore 247909 (Enter from where the taxi stand is. Below Kenko.)
Tel: 6887 4484
Opening hours: 1130 am – 10 pm

Mad Nest

Under the recommendation of my colleagues, I finally visited this restaurant with them one evening. The interior is spacious and furniture is simple. The paintings on the white walls make the whole interior look like an art gallery. Very soothing.

Mad Nest houses three different kitchens serving three different food of nationalities – japanese, indian and western. I was very impressed with all their appetisers and finger food. My favourite are the oiishii maki, tori teriyaki (yes, sound normal? try this and you will know that all other tori teriyaki you have eaten in the past were nonsense), truffle fries, and foie gras. The sake sashimi is thickly-sliced and every bite is filled with happiness. The mains are so-so.

salmon sashimi

Una Don

Truffle Fries

Tonkatsu

Tandoori Chicken Briyani

Ebi Tempura

Escargots Baked Mushrooms

Foie Gras

Fugu Mirin

Oiishi Maki

Butter Chicken

Buta Shooga Miso Yaki

1 for 1 Stella Artois Draught $10
Oishii Maki $16
Sake Sashimi $12
Tori Teriyaki $12
Chawanmushi $4
Papadam (Basket) $3
Shochikubai Toukkuri (Flask) $13
Gyu Niku Curry Rice $15
Katsu Curry Udon $12
Tamada Ramen $12
Truffle Fries $13
Fugu Mirin $15
Tandoori Chicken Briyani $10
Naan (Basket) $9
Butter Chicken $13
Tonkatsu $12
Una Don $15
Buta Shooga Miso Yaki $12
Foie Gras $20

Prices exclude 7% GST and 10% service charge.

Restaurant: Mad Nest
Address: 378 East Coast Road Singapore 428985
Tel: 6348 6861
Opening Hours:

Red House Seafood Restaurant

It has always been on my wish list to eat here. Dad used to meet clients at this restaurant ever since I was in Primary School and he would pack leftover crabs for us. But because it is pricey for the family, he didn’t bring us there for meals. I finally got a chance to dine there with my buddies for their birthdays. Here’s what we had:

Drunken Prawns $30 (400g)

We were first served with drunken prawns. The wine and herb based soup was fragrant. There was also sweetness from the prawns! The prawns were bigger than a medium-sized prawn. The meat was very succulent and fresh. We finished every drop of soup.

Boston Lobster noodles $68 (usual price $98)

Next came our Boston Lobster noodles. The lobster was meaty and each of the four of us had a good portion of the lobster. The noodles were cooked well to a springy texture that had properly absorbed the best of the broth. One could top up $10 for additional noodles.

Black Pepper Crab (1kg @ $50)

Black pepper crab came next. We all thought that this was one of the best black pepper crabs we had eaten. Our crabs were from Sri Lanka and they were full of succulent meat.

Chilli Crab (1kg @ $50)

Singapore’s well-known chilli crab was served next. Frankly, I’m not a chilli crab lover. I totally see no reason why it is a “must eat” dish when one visits Singapore except for the sweetly-flavoured man tou. We thought that this dish wasn’t really good. A pity the restaurant does not serve crabs cooked with salted egg yolk.

Baby Kai Lan $10

The baby kai lan was crunchy and it wasn’t oily although being stir-fried with garlic.

Service was a little slow on a Wednesday evening. We had to remind them to serve us our man tou and baby kai lan. However, it was a good meal overall.

Pickle $2.50
Tea, water and towel $1.50 per pax
Fried Man Tou $0.70 each

Prices exclude 10% service charges and 7% GST.
10% discount using OCBC credit cards.

Restaurant: Red House Seafood
Address: Blk 1204 East Coast Parkway #01-05 East Coast Seafood Centre Singapore 449882
Tel: 64423112
Website: http://www.redhouseseafood.com
Opening Hours: Mon – Fri: 12pm – 11.30pm; Sat, Sun & Public Holidays: 11.30am – 11.30pm

The Marmalade Pantry

A sweet cafe located in the quiet side of ION Orchard, this place serves a quiet get-together with your close buddies. I like the cafe’s decorations and it’s open concept. If you’re looking for a place to rest your feet while shopping in Orchard or want to get out of the bustling crowd, this is a really good choice.

Marmalade Party

Seared Scallop Linguini

Steak Sandwich

Seasalt Caramel Cheese Cake

Seared Scallop Linguini $24
Steak Sandwich $24
Seasalt Caramel Cheese Cake $8
Berries Smoothies $9
Flat White Coffee $6.50
Peony Jade White Tea $7

Prices exclude 10% service charge and 7% GST.
DBS credit card gets 10% off.

Restaurant: The Marmalade Pantry
Address: ION Orchard, #03-22/28, 2 Orchard Turn, Singapore 238801
Tel: 67342700
Website: http://www.themarmaladepantry.com.sg/

Restoran Win Yin 容原宮保田雞粥

This is the place where my cousin has always been wanting to bring me to. She claims that the frog porridge here is better than the one I brought her to.

We ordered the frogs in “gong bao” flavour, sliced fish in spring onion and ginger, stir fried lala, peanuts and preserved vegetables, together with 5 servings of porridge. Each frog is RM7.50 and the whole meal cost RM$66.50.

I felt the frogs weren’t as flavourful as that I had here. But the sliced fish were not bad. The lala was not bad too.


Preserved vegetables 咸菜

Shellfish “Lala”

Frogs, sliced fish and porridge

The only bad part is we were really thirsty after our dinner. Probably too much MSG in the food.

Restaurant: Restoran Win Yin 容原宮保田雞粥
Address: 68 Jalan Toman 4, Kemayan Square, 70200 Seremban Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
Opening Hours: 630pm – 0430am

Restoran Yong Tao Fu Sam

My favorite niang tou fu stall in Seremban.

Each item is 90 cents. Niang toufu items are always filled fully with marinated meat. The meat is usually mixed and made by the stall themselves unlike the homogeneous white tasteless meat bought from some wholesalers in Singapore. Items are so chunky, you feel like you are eating every cent of your money’s worth.

You can order it with “lai fan”, bee hoon, kuay tiao, yellow mee or rice. It comes with fragrant dark soy sauce and minced meat.

After selecting the items, the stall will heat up either by cooking in the soup or deep-frying the items again.

Restaurant: Restoran Yong Tao Fu Sam 亚生酿豆腐餐室
Address: 1851 Taman Ujong, Jalan Tok Ungku, 70100 Seremban Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
Opening hours: 730am – 330pm. Closed on Tuesdays.

The Coastal Settlement

Visited this lovely place decorated with retro items – old typewriters, phones, bicycles, thermos flask, kettles, hair dryer, rattan chairs, luggage bags, etc. The big restaurant had many customers despite being a weekday night and location being out of the way.

They have big tables and is a very suitable place for gathering of friends.

I ordered the perfect roast chicken that comes with broiled vegetables and truffled fries. If you order soup, it comes served in mess tins or the retro light green metal container. It reminded me of the older days when I was still a little kid eating at my grandma’s house.

The rest of the pictures are what my friends had.

Truffled fries – $15

Mushroom Soup – $14

Fish and Chips – $26

Ribeye Rosti – $32

Tuna Tortilla – $17

Perfect Roast Chicken – $25

Prices exclude 10% service charges and 7% GST.

Restaurant: The Coastal Settlements
Address: 200 Netheravon Road Singapore 508529
Tel: 64750200
Fax: 64720200
Opening hours: 10.30am till 12 Midnight. Closed on Mondays.
Website: http://www.thecoastalsettlement.com

U Crab Wang Restaurant 柔蟹皇海鲜饭店

Had supper at this place yesterday at Seremban. We ordered 3 crabs cooked in 2 flavours – mushroom and chilli (辣子). We were quite apprehensive about the mushroom one at first but since the waitress said it is one of their most popular flavour, we decided to give it a try.

We couldn’t really tell how they made the mushroom gravy, but guessed they probably used Campbell’s canned soup and added onions, garlic and cheese. It was quite flavourful.

The chilli one was not bad either, with curry leaves, dried shrimps, garlic and chilli. I felt it was not spicy enough.

The crab was meaty but had a slight tinge of muddy taste. Price – RM$63 per kg.

The restaurant offers 28 types of flavours of crab. Besides this, they also have a “zi char” menu.

Note: Mosquitos are abundant at night. Spray insect repellent first if you are eating supper.

Restaurant: U Crab Wang Restaurant 柔蟹皇海鲜饭店
Address: 259 Jalan Haruan 5/7 Pusat Komersial Oakland 2, 70300 Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
Tel: 06-632 7833; 016 906 6591
Email: ucrabwangrestaurant@yahoo.com
Opening hours: 11am – 3pm; 6pm – 12am. Closed on Tuesdays.

Nolboo Hangari Galbi

One authentic Korean BBQ restaurant you can visit! I love their kimchi stew!

Every customer is served a complimentary pumpkin porridge as an appetizer and a red bean dessert and hot tea at the end. The banchan is complimentary and is very fresh. However the kimchi that they served is not the best I’ve eaten.

Would definitely come back for their BBQ!

Restaurant Outlets

banchan

bibimbab

Interior 1

dessert

Interior 2

Kimchi Stew

pumpkin porridge

Cod Fish Bibimbab – $19.90
Kimchi Stew – $ 15.90
Beef Bibimbab set $15.90
Half Ginseng Chicken set $15.90
Hangari Beef (BBQ) 360g $35.90
Soy Bean Stew Set $14.90
Korean Beer $6.90
Coke $4.90
Prices excludes 10% service charge and 7% GST.

Restaurant: Nolboo Hangari Galbi
Address: 112 East Coast Road #03-06 112 Katong Singapore 428802
Tel: 6636 3119