Cheap Abalone and Sharks Fins@Rabbit Brand Seafood Delicacies

Where can you find a abalone set meal which cost only $12.50+ ?

Around one year ago, we were recommended by a friend to the cheapest Buddha Jump over the wall (佛跳墙) and abalone set meal at Rabbit Brand, Lucky Plaza (level 2).

Recently, there is a Groupon deal, $7.50 for $15 Worth of Chinese Fare at Rabbit Brand Seafood at Circular Road, which worked out to be a 50% discount to this already cheap Chinese food fare. Super value for money!

Rabbit Brand at Circular Road

This old tiny restaurant was decked right at the end of the Circular Road, at the back of the Boat Quay, beside those happening pubs and bars. Not much of a setting to talk about, just a rather cramped place with food court style table and chairs. Well, at least there is air-con in the indoor dining area.

Dining Area

In this inconspicuous tiny place, they offer nice and value for money Chinese set menu starting from $5.50. Each of the set menu will have at least one delicacy in the menu - abalone, sharks' fin, scallop, sea-cucumber or fish-maws.

Braised Whole Abalone with Special Make Spinach Beancurd Set (原粒鲍鱼配特制菠菜豆腐)

We ordered the most expensive set on the menu, which is only $12.50+. The set come with rice, Chinese tea and a dessert that is like Cheng-Teng.

Abalone and Spinach Beancurd Set
Rating: 4/5

Although the abalone was a bit small and you might not notice it among those big size mushrooms, broccoli and crab stick, it is still a whole abalone and quite rich in flavour.

Abalone

The Spinach beancurd was what I liked most, crispy fried with soft inner beancurd, providing different textures and accompanied with the fragrant spinach taste. Simply yummy!

Spinach Toufu

Buddha Jump Over The Wall (迷你佛跳墙)
The other popular set is this All-in-One "soup", Buddha Jump Over The Wall @$6.50, which is one of the most luxurious dish of Chinese food. All the mini delicacies - abalone, fish maw, dried scallop and shark's fins are added together and simmered to give a rich broth.  Nice to go with the white rice.  A small plate of bean sprout also came with the set.

Buddha Jump Over The Wall
Rating: 3.75/5

Braised Shark's fin in Claypot (红烧煲仔翅)
To make up to $30, we ordered another claypot shark's fins set @$6.50 as there is no à la carte shark's fin on the menu. All set come with rice and Chinese tea. The price is the same even though we forgo the rice.
We were expecting it to be richer and more flavourful. However, the braised Shark's fin was a bit too watery, didn't really taste much of the shark's fins.

Braised Shark's fin in Claypot
Rating: 3.5/5

The 3 set meals and a can of ginseng bird's nest cost $30 before GST, just nice for 2 vouchers. The restaurant is able to offer such delicacies at a cheap price because the company (Yeow Seng) have their own factory for canned abalone, bird's nest and shark's fin.

The food were quite nice. For the price we are paying, do not expect the dishes to be as good or delicate as those high-end restaurants.

There are only one service staff and 2 chefs at the shop.  Don't expect much smile on the serving auntie but she will deliver your food and settled the bills promptly.

Rabbit Brand
http://www.rabbitbrand.com.sg/
11 Circular Road
Singapore 049367
Opening Hours: 11:00-22:00 (Mon.-Sun)

Tel: 6557 0874

Fish Soup@Xin Yuan Ji 新源记

Had always prefer my food flavour to be strong, so fish soup was seldom my choice except for occasions when I am feeling guilty of gluttony.

Fish soup from Xin Yuan Ji is not those bland soup but rich, flavourful, slightly peppery and with a tinge of sweetness.  You have a choice of whether to add milk to your fish soup. To have an extra "shiokness",  You can add the red chilli provided to the soup. After we finished the soup, we saw some brown powdery sediment which should be grounded dried sole fish which adds flavour to the soup.

Fried fish meat soup @$5.80
Fresh fish slices fried to lovely golden brown in a rich and flavourful broth. Fried batter and shallots further enhanced the taste. Simple but nice.

Fried Fish Meat Soup
Rating: 4/5

Fried red snapper fish head soup @$7.30
Chunks of red snapper fish head fried to taste. It was a leisure to slowly bite and taste the crispy fish head chunk.  I ordered the thin version of the bee hoon so that it absorbed the fish soup and is flavourful even on its own.

Fried Red Snapper Fish Head Soup
Rating: 4/5

Felt really homely when they took out a home-style folded paper box for our fish head bones. Simple practical act to avoid the unsightly bones all over the table.

Paper box for fish head bones

They have some homemade drinks with innovative names - Mama (line + plum) and Papa (Barley+lime)@$1.50.  However the taste wasn't really to my liking. Their coffee was fragrant and nice.

Drinks - Coffee, Papa drink

Xin Yuan Ji is opposite Bugis Junction at a small alley of Tan Quee Lan street. Simple restaurant with wooden tables and stools, tables sharing are expected during peak hours. Prices are inclusive of GST and there is no service charge. Given this simple food court style eatery, price is slightly pricey.

Xin Yuan Ji

Besides fish soup, this restaurant offered many other dishes as well. Besides the usual Cze Char dishes, their charcoal fish steamboat seems nice as well.  Will definitely try it some day.

There is another branch at Bukit Merah Central Hawker centre.  This stall only sell fish soup, same nice fish soup at a cheaper price.

31 Tan Quee Lan Street,
#01-01, Singapore 188117
Tel: +65 6334 4086
Operating Hours: 11.00am to 12.30am

Nice coffee @Highlander Coffee Bar

Decked in the remote stretch of conservation area along Kampong Bahru, it was not easy to locate Highlander Coffee bar. Doubt that we could find this hidden coffee place if not for a colleague to lead the way.

The setting wasn't like the usual coffee place - Starbucks or Coffee Bean, no cozy sofa but uncomfortable stools in a small cramped area. It doesn't matters as we were intending to have take-away.

Highlander Coffee Bar

I ordered a Macadamia latte @$5.50. While they were preparing the coffee, besides the aromatic coffee, there were also traces of macadamia fragrant in the air.

The macadamia latte was very smooth, rich and fragrant. It was with just the right amount of sugar as the coffee was smooth and there wasn't a need to hide bitterness or sourness with more sugar. It was served lukewarm, not too hot and just nice for drinking immediately. 

 Macadamia latte

Although I am no coffee connoisseur, but I believe the latte I just had is good enough to impress a number of coffee lovers.

Highlander Coffee
http://highlandercoffee.com/
49 Kampong Bahru Road, Singapore
Tel: +65 6223 7102

Chinese Cuisine Fine Dining @TungLok Signatures

Fine dining can be for Chinese Cuisine as well, TungLok Signatures delivers that.  Dishes in Chinese cuisine are to be shared and thus usually comes in bigger portion. To cater for smaller dining group, TungLok offered cuisine by per piece or per portion such that you can still enjoy variety of dishes.

We bought from Groupon $25 worth of TungLok Group dining vouchers at $12.50. Each visit can utilise up to 2 groupons.

Pan-fried French Foie Gras 

Pan-fried French Foie Gras and Beancurd Skin served with Pancake 香煎法国鹅肝素方薄饼 ($14.80 per piece).  The foie gras and beancurd skin are to be wrapped in the pancake, similar to how we eat  peking duck. The foie gras was rich and flavourful.  The slightly charred outside and soft fatty fat within were perfectly complimented with a slice of fresh juicy cucumber and a piece of beancurd skin which give the wrap an extra crisp.  Simply yummy!

Pan-fried Foie Gras
Rating: 4.5/5

Kurobuta Pork

Pan-fried Japanese Kurobuta Pork 香煎鹿儿岛和豚 ($14.80 per piece) 

Although it was a small thin slice of pork, but it was enough to give you the oomphs.  Pan-fried bring out the fat from the marbled fat pork to give it a nice slight burnt taste. The tender kurobuta tasted much richer than normal pork and goes really well with rice. 

Kurobuta Pork
Rating: 4.5/5

Poach Cabbage

Poached Cabbage with Ham 云肘翠玉 ($6 per portion)

Poached cabbage artistically arranged and served with a piece of Chinese ham (金華火腿).  It came with a nice broth as well.

Poach Cabbage
Rating: 3.75/5

Rack of Lamb  

Pan-Fried Rack of Lamb with Special Homemade Sauce  香煎澳洲乳羊 ($10 per portion)

We had very high expectation of the lamb as it looked really good from the picture.  We were kind of disappointed, its not really tender for a sucking lamb mutton and not as flavourful as the thin slice of Kurobuta pork. Neither the homemade sauce nor the fried ring was a saving grace.

Rack of Lamb
Rating: 3.75/5

The total bill was around S$60.  With the 2 groupons, practically we paid S$35 for the meal. Quite a good deal!

TungLok Signatures

http://www.tungloksignatures.com/ 

VivoCity #01-571 HarbourFront Walk

Singapore 098585

Tel : +65 6376 9555

Opening Hours :

Lunch : 11.30AM – 3.00PM (Mon to Sat)

             11.00AM – 3.30PM (Sun & PHs)

Dinner : 6.00PM – 10.30PM (Daily)

Snack @ iLoveTaiMei, Bugis

Happened to pass by this I Love Taimei 我愛台妹 Taiwanese stall/kiosk at Bugis Junction for the past few weeks.  Noticed that business for this stall had started to improve and long queues are formed recently.

I Love Taimei Stall/Kiosk

Finally I got the chance to try this store while waiting for a friend that day.  Their marketing strategy of using celebrities on the menu successfully captured attention (at least mine!). Wonder whether there are any copyright/trademark infringement and how the fans feels seeing how their idols are associated to the different snacks.

Celebrity Menu

There are a variety of snacks offered, Selina - BBQ Crispy Chicken, Ella - extra crispy chicken, Hebe - Lemon Crispy Chicken, 小S - Popcorn chicken, 侯佩岑-Taiwan Tempura,  大S - mushroom combo and some other side dish like 七里香 chicken tail and shake2 fries.

I ordered a packet of 大S, fried mushroom combo @$3.50. The "crew" take a packet of mushroom, dip them into the diluted batter with his bare hands and tossed them in a container to coat with flour before frying it. Hygiene can be improved if the staff use some utensil or wear a pair of gloves while handling the food.

The mushroom was served pipping hot which blurred my camera lens when I try to take a picture. Chilli powder will be sprinkled on your order if you requested it to be spicy upon ordering. The mushroom was crispy fried and I love the fragrant peppery salty coating on the mushroom! Its as good as the 椒盐 fried stuffs we had in Taiwan.  The mushroom combo consists of the mushroom cap and stalk and they are both juicy and complement the stronger taste crispy batter well. Yummy!

大S  Fried Mushroom Combo
Rating: 4.25/5

Will definitely patronize this stall again to try their bubble milk tea with Taro Q, Lemon Ice Jelly with Perl, BBQ crispy chicken and 七里香.

I Love TaiMei
http://www.ilovetaimei.com.sg/
Bugis Junction

Set Lunch @White Dog Cafe

Cheap and nice 3 course lunch set from $10.90++, include a White Dog Waldorf Salad, a soup and a main course.
White dog cafe offered a variety of choices (~18) for the main course, much more than what is usually offered in other restaurants.

Set Lunch Menu

White dog Waldorf Salad and Soup of your choice
You can choose Veloute of White Dory or Barley Chicken Broth. White dory cream soup sounds fishy and weird initially, but it turn out to be quite ok, quite smooth and not fishy. There is a slice of garlic bread to go with the soup, quite crispy and nice.
Nothing much about the salad, but the walnut did add some contrast to the greens.

Soup and Salad

Grilled Pork Chop with Prune and Apple Salsa
Pork was nicely charred, not too tough and quite fragrant. The prune and apple salsa doesn't look appetizing but it does compliment the pork well and is not too sweet. Portion of the meat was small, but should be sufficient for the average as the mains are served with a small portion of raisin organic brown rice.

Grilled Pork Chop

Beer-battered Pacific Dory with Tartar Sauce
My friend ordered the beer-battered dory, only had a bite and it was quite nice. Although its not as crispy as some of the fish and chips, but it does taste fresh and goes well with the creamy tartar sauce.

Beer-battered Pacific Dory

There is much room for improvement for their service. Never sight a single smile from the gloomy waitresses and it also took quite a while for them to settle the bill.

Nonetheless, will still be back again as the food is relatively cheap.

Great Lunch Deal, cheap lunch deal.

Romantic Dinner - The Cliff @ The Sentosa

Away from the bustle and hustle of the city, the Cliff restaurant is at a quiet corner of Beaufort Hotel at Sentosa.

Beaufort Hotel

The alfresco dining area is at a balcony platform which overlooks South China Sea, supposed to boast a nice sunset view in the evening while romantic illuminations from the ships during the night. It was cloudy that evening and we only managed to catch a glimpse of sunset skies.  As the dining area is besides a lush forest with tall trees, a large portion of the sea view was kind of being blocked.

Scenery from Restaurant

Nonetheless, still liked the casual yet comfortable settings - long wooden tables and benches with back and comfortable cushions, modern rustic settings with ceiling fans ventilating the area. The relaxing settings at the balcony is very different from the formal impression from the posh impressive passage over water at the entrance.

Dining Area

Table Setting

Contemporary European cuisine is served here. Before the meal start, there were some small sized offerings being served. Understand that these are known as amuse-bouche, French term which literally means "mouth amuser". These are complimentary greetings from good restaurant, aimed at exciting dinners' palette and also to showcase chief's creativity. There were some kind of thick creamy soup in the small cups, small toast with paste-like chopped tuna decorated with some rosemary and a jelly.

Amuse-Bouche

Bread is being served as usual. Had always loved bread from western restaurants and always need to constraint myself not to eat too much. There are a variety of bread offered here, however couldn't really appreciate the few we had selected nor the curry powder that is supposed to go with the bread.

Saw lots of fresh oysters in their glass kitchen when we pass by the entrance.  Decided to get their Tasting of Oyster with 5 different preparations.

• Umami - dashi pearl, oba granite and seaweed
• Sour - lapsang souchong vinaigrette and citrus fruits
• Bitter - Sorrel juice and salted sago
• Salt - smoked ham and shrimp floss
• Sweet - Strawberry espuma, coriander and balsamic jelly

Oysters
Rating: 4/5

Each of them was unique in taste.  The bitter and sour preparation were quite nice. Have a bit of reservation for the sweet taste initially, but the strawberry foam combined with coriander actually goes well with the oyster. Had high expectation for the salty preparation but it was quite disappointing as the shrimp floss just seems weird with the oyster.

Main course is Tajima Wagyu Beef @$125. Tajima are black cattle originating from the Hyogo prefecture and was described as one of the highest quality beef in the world.  The chef recommend medium rare for the steak, slightly charred on the outside and very tender and juicy inside. Usually when beef is a bit rare, it can also get slightly chewy. But this medium rare wagyu beef was very moist and tender. For the first time, I enjoyed the fresh meaty taste of the inner beef  more than the strong seared charred taste on the outside.

There were few small pieces of foie gras, soft, creamy texture with rich flavour. But its soft and too small in size that the first few slices just slipped down my throat before I can savour it. The sides were good too, crispy-fired fragrant truffled potato, asparagus, zucchini and carrot.

Tajima Wagyu Beef
Rating: 4.5 / 5

My dining partner ordered a Ibérico Pork @ $62, strip loin, rib roll, apple-sauerkraut purée, potato dumpling and cabbage roll. Black Ibérico pig origin from Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain), usually known as Spanish pig, supposed to be special for its marbled fat like Kobe beef. It wasn't really that amazing but we do like the rib roll. The apple-sauerkraut purée was quite special too. Sauerkraut is pickling process similar to how kimchi are made, the puree is quite refreshing with a tinge of sourness.

Ibérico Pork
Rating: 3.75 / 5

The Cliff Lemon Tart @$20 - textures of lemon, gin and tonic jelly, tonka bean ice cream and yuzu sorbet. The ice cream and yuzu sorbet was nice.  The others was quite new to us - meringue, small tiny gin and tonic jelly with gold pieces - interesting but couldn't really appreciate them especially at such a price.

The Cliff Lemon Tart
Rating: 3.5 / 5

It was very kind of them to offer a complimentary cake for our birthday celebration. We wouldn't have ordered the lemon tart if we had know of the complimentary cake earlier.

There is also complimentary shuttle service from the hotel to HabourFront/Vivo, you can just check the timing at the concierge.

The Cliff at The Sentosa,
A Beaufort Hotel
2 Bukit Manis, Sentosa,
Singapore 099891
Tel: (65) 6371 1425
Opening Hours: 6.30pm – 12.00am (last orders at 10pm)
Reservation Recommended: Yes
Dress Code: Smart Casual