Tapas Buffet @ Loco Tapas

$15.90 for a All-You-Can-Eat Tapas Buffet at Loco Tapas Bar.  Nice food, centralised location at such an attractive price. it is really the BEST deal ever!!

It was a 55% discount buffet deal to promote the newly opened Loco Tapas bar at Boat Quay, offering tantalising Spanish cuisine.

There were a few dishes that were memorable.  Grilled asparagus with bacon was one of them. Fresh asparagus couple with crispy grilled bacon with drops of flavourful oil from the bacon dripping down. They were very generous with the dried bacon, but on the other hand, it can get a bit salty.  Sinfully yummy!

Asparagus with Bacon
Rating: 4/5

The bacon prawns were very nice as well.  Yes, oily bacon wrapped again. The bacon gives additional flavour to the prawn and add crisp to the dish. Equally yummy!

Bacon Prawns
Rating: 4.25/5

Marinated Salmon cold cut - free flow of marinated salmon that you can eat to your heart's content. The  green "pea" like capers that comes with the salmon taste really well with the salmon.

Marinated Salmon
Rating:3.75/5

The buffet also comes with free flow of drinks. Besides salmon, there is also marinated mushroom and Chorizo.  Chorizo is spanish pork sausage which get their distinctive smokiness and deep red colour from dried smoked red peppers.

(clockwise)Marinated Mushroom, Lemon Tea, Chorizo

We have also tried their seafood soup, stuffed mushroom, deep fried fish fritters and rack of lamb.  Their lamb was nicely pan-fried topped with rosemary and flavourful sauce. A substantial portion as tapas.

(clockwise)  Stuffed Mushroom, Seafood Soup,
 Deep Fried Fish Fritters and Rack of Lamb

We end the meal with Churros, spanish doughnut. The fried dough pastry topped with cinnamon, was still pipping hot when served. Dipped in the mildly sweet chocolate mixture, the churros were nice!

Churros
Rating: 4/5

Churros by the river

Nice alfresco setting just besides the Singapore river at Boat Quay. Even though it was a bit warm and humid for lunch, we enjoyed ourselves, indulging in nice food and enjoying the nice scenery.

Loco Tapas Bar Pte Ltd
48 Boat Quay
Singapore 049837
Tel: 6535 2841

Business Hours (Mon – Sun)
Lunch: 12pm to 3.30pm
Dinner: 6pm to 10.30pm

Paul Bakery

PAUL - French bakery company with more than 120 years of savoir-faire. It is touted to be the leader in authentic French pastries offering unmatched quality of sweet patisserie using all real cream made with real butter and milk.

Our expectation was definitely raised after reading about this French Patisserie.

We ordered their cannele and a butter cream pastry for take-away.


Canele @$3.50
Canele is a small cake with dark, thick caramelized crust and soft centre. The name Canele came from the little fluted copper mould in which it is baked.

Canele

This canele is flavoured with vanilla and rum.  I would not describe it as soft and tender custard center but something chewy like Nonya kueh Bingka Ubi or Indonesia honeycomb cake.

The rum is quite distinct and the caramelized crust was quite nice as well.  However, $3.50 for such a small piece of honeycomb cake like canele is a bit expensive.

Canele

Butter cream pastry
Not sure what's the name of this pastry as the tags were all mixed up. Only get to know that it is some butter cream pastry from the salesperson.

It doesn't taste as good as it looks. Neither soft cake nor fluffy crispy puff, cream was nothing special as well. We didn't continue after 2 bites. Perhaps its just because we kept it overnight in the fridge.

ButterCream Pastry

Maybe we will try some other pastry fresh at the restaurant next time.

Paul Bakery
391A Orchard Road,
#03-16/16A/17 Ngee Ann City Tower A,
Singapore
Tel: +65 6836 5932

Business Hours
Bakery:
  Sunday – Thursday: 9am to 9:30pm
  Friday & Saturday: 9am to 10:30pm
Restaurant:
  Monday – Sunday: 10am – 11pm

Fullerton Cafe Boutique

Happened to be at Fullerton hotel few days ago. Enjoy the ambience and lavish interior of this 6 stars hotel. There was also live music at the lobby where the musicians played violin and flute at the 2nd storey.

Will definitely find an opportunity to enjoy hi-tea in this relax lavish settings one of these days. For that day, we will just settle for a takeaway.

Fullerton Hotel

The Fullerton Cafe Boutique staff approached us and recommend us to their signature pastries, highlighting that there is 50% discount for their pastries and sliced cakes after 7pm for takeaways.

Sweet Indulgence in our home sweet home.

Fullerton Cheesecake @$9. Creamy rich cheese cake not too sweet. The refreshing strawberry, blueberry and raspberry entice your palate to have more of the rich cheesecake without getting to jelat. Yummy!

Manjari Chocolate Mousse @$9.  Bright orange cake with a thick layer of chocolate mousse on top. Manjari chocolate refers to chocolate made with beans from Madagascar which is slightly bitter with hints of soft fruit. Nice :)

Fullerton Hotel 
1 Fullerton Square
Singapore 049178
Tel: 67338388

Authentic Hong Kong Dim Sum @Victor's Kitchen

Was very disappointed in our last visit to Victor's Kitchen, not because of the food but because I realised my flash card was not in the camera only after we finished the meal. Managed to have a few snaps using my phone :)

Long queue and Crowded restaurant during Weekend

We made another visit Victor's Kitchen again, avoiding peak period this time round. As it was weekday and we are slightly early, we managed to get a table without queuing.

After getting a seat, unlike the previous visit, the staff was quite prompt to set the table for us.  Knowing the protocol and to beat the crowd, I quickly go and grab an order chit at the counter, write down our table number, note down our orders and pass it to the lady boss at the counter.

Order Chit and Menu

Ordering tip -  if you want to enjoy their double-boiled egg white with fresh milk, do order early as it takes 20min to prepare.  For Golden egg yolk lava bun, its important to eat it while hot so that you will enjoy a consistent flowing lava. If you intent to enjoy lava buns as savoury dessert after the dim sum, will suggest to submit your lava bun order separately when you are half-way through the meal so that you can eat them while hot.

Scallop, sausage carrot cake with XO Sauce XO酱干贝腊味萝卜糕@$4. One of Victor's Kitchen specialities and authentic Hong Kong's Dim Sum. Soft carrot cake in its simplicity with complimenting black sauce.  Slight spiciness and added fragrance of the XO sauce contrasted and brought out the taste of the radish. Quite nice but would be better if there are more chinese sausage or dried prawns. Additional XO sauce at additional $0.50.

Steamed Carrot Cake
Rating: 4/5

Yummy Phoenix Claws 香辣惹味凤爪@$3.50. Slightly spicy chicken feet with chopped garlic. Nothing really that fantastic.

Phoenix Claws
Rating: 3.75/5

Victor's King Prawn Dumpling 超级虾饺皇@ $5. Pure white dumpling skin wrapped with big prawns.  The skin is very thin and texture is soft but it tear easily when you try to pick it up.  Quite nice and full of prawn flavours.

Victor's King Prawn Dumpling
Rating: 4/5

The filling is not the usual where pork is mixed with prawns. It seems to be just prawns and generous big prawns. Which explains why the price of their prawn dumpling is similar to that offered in up-market restaurants.

Prawn Dumpling Filling

Tasty Queen Size Siew Mai 美味蟹皇烧卖@$4. Their Siew Mai was quite nice, tender pork with a strong fragrance which I believe came from the mushroom.

Tasty Queen Size Siew Mai
Rating: 4/5

Siew Mai Filling

Steamed Chicken with Chinese Wine 花雕杞子蒸鸡@$3. Fragrance Hua Diao wine coupled with tender smooth chicken.  The wolf-berries add sweetness to the dish as well.

Steamed Chicken with Chinese Wine
Rating: 4/5

This is why I am back at Victor's Kitchen - Hong Kong Summer Ice Tea 香港夏日冰镇奶茶@$3.  One of the best milk tea we had.  One of the most "Kao", smooth, tasty and fragrant milk tea.

The thick milk tea was placed in a bowl of ice to keep it cool without diluting the tea. Although it can get a bit messy when the ice melts and the cup starts to floats up as it gets lighter, I still like this gimmick which adds some fun to it.

Hong Kong Summer Ice Tea
Rating: 4.5/5

Chicken and sausage in glutinous rice 干贝蛋黄腊味珍珠鸡@$5.  One of their signature dish. The glutinous rice is fragrant and super soft.  The watery filling within are some chicken and sausage. Would prefer the egg yolk to be more apparent.

Chicken and sausage in glutinous rice
Rating: 4/5

One of the authentic dish of Hong Kong Dim Sum - YouTiao Cheong Fun or "Za Leong" 香港风情炸两 @$3.50.  Instead of wrapping the usual BBQ pork or prawn, the rice roll wraps a you-tiao (fried dough) which gives a contrasting yet complimenting texture.  The fried you-tiao here is crispy and still soft, which is much better than those hard ones offered in some restaurants.

YouTiao Cheong Fun
Rating: 4.25/5

Now we come to the desserts.  They offered double boiled egg white with fresh milk in 2 flavours - Ginger or Almond 鲜奶炖蛋白@$3.50.  Home-made style, soft pudding-like with ginger taste that is not too over-powering. Being traditional "dun dan" 炖蛋, do not expect it to be as smooth as Lao Ban Beancurd :)

Double 

Finally, THE dish that make them famous, Golden Egg Yolk Lava Bun 黄金流沙包@$4.0 for 3 buns. Golden savoury egg yolk lava flowing out as you break apart the steamed fluffy bun. Loved the consistency of the lava, not too watery nor too lumpy. The custard combined with fragrant salted egg yolk was simply yummy.

It is important to eat these buns while hot, else your bun might end up like the one in the photo where the lava filling starts to coagulate and oil starts to separate itself from the custard. Ya, the golden egg yolk lava is sinful, you will be surprise on the amount of oil in it.  But its definitely worth the calories.

Golden Egg Yolk Lava Bun
Rating: 4.5/5

Total cost S$49.50. The dim sum here is nice but not really the best - Steam carrot cake, I will prefer that from Kam Boat. Porridge? I will prefer the dried vegetable with roast pork porridge in Ritz Carlton Summer Pavalion.  But their Golden Egg Yolk Lava Bun and Hong Kong Summer Ice Tea are something that I will definitely return for.

Squeezy small dining area that resembles Hong Kong as well? Be prepared to make way for people while you are eating. Since there is no service charge, be contented that the staffs set the table and bring you your food. Don't expect smile or attention from the busy staffs.

There will some "loud communication" among the working staffs now and then. We went over the counter to settle the bills, highlighting to the lady boss that one Dim Sum was not delivered to us and to be excluded from the bill.  In Cantonese to her staff, "Hey, table 32 says you never serve the pan-fried rice roll!", then she turned to me, "How? she says she is cooking it for you already." Ok ok, pack it please.


Victor's Kitchen 

91 Bencoolen Street, #01-21
Sunshine Plaza, Singapore
Tel:  9838 2851

Business Hours:
  Daily 10.30am – 8pm
  (Closed on Mon)

Snack @Poh Cheu, Alexandra

There is always a long queue at Poh Cheu stall, in a coffee shop next to the Alexandra Village Hawker Centre.  The stall seems popular and there are many newspaper cuttings and good food awards all over the stall.

Poh Cheu

Poh Cheu specialised in a variety of handmade kueh keuh - Soon Kueh, Ang Ku Kueh.  They also have nice abacus and glutinous rice, which was the reason we were there.  We queued for 45 minutes before we managed to buy the "prized" kueh kueh.

Variety of Kueh

The staffs were still busy making kueh at around 2pm. They were still rolling the dough, wrapping the filling red bean paste and peanut paste into the kueh, placing it on a cut banana leaf and arranging the kueh onto the steaming rack to steam.

Kueh Making

Ang Ku Kueh (红龟糕) @$0.70
Ang Ku Kueh are made with glutinous rice flour and shaped like a tortoise to symbolise longevity. Besides the traditional Peanut and Red bean paste fillings, they also offer a variety of other fillings - Black Sesame (new), Durian, Green Bean, Salted Bean, Yam, Coconut, Coffee, Mango and Green Tea. Loved the vibrant colours and enjoyed choosing the different flavours.  Maybe that's the reason why it took every customer so long to place their orders.

Ang Ku Kueh are traditionally used to celebrate baby full month. You can order Hong Qian, Hong Yuan and glutinous rice for the traditional baby full celebration snack. Understand from a colleague that according to traditional, round bottom and sharp tip HongYuan is for boys while flat HongQian is for girls. In the olden days where boys were preferred over girls, glutinous rice was privileged for only the baby boys. Nowadays, you can just include whatever to you liking for baby full month.

Noticed that these sticky skin traditional snack is not popular among the kids. Luckily there are still adults who can appreciate the Ang Ku Kueh which we had queued 45 minutes for. Peanut and black sesame are our favourites.

Ang Ku Kueh in Vibrant Colours!

Soon Kueh 笋粿@ $0.70~$1.00
The other speciality is their Soon Kueh with different fillings - Turnip Soon Kueh, Ku Cai Kueh, Bamboo Kueh, Yam Kueh and Rice cake (Peng Kueh). Even though the name  笋粿 literally implied snack made with bamboo shoots,  the typical filling in Singapore is turnip, which is my favourite.  I personally cannot appreciate the "authentic" bamboo shoot kueh (which is also more expensive) as I can't stand the smell. Do note that Yam Kueh is only available on certain days (Fri & Sat).

Not the best Soon Kueh I had, but still very satisfying, especially with the black sauce and chilli.

Soon Kueh
Rating: 3.75/5

Abacus 客家算盘子@$2
The reason why we were there was not Ang Ku Kueh nor Soon Kueh, but the Hakka dish - Abacus Beads (Suan Pan Zi 算盘子).  It is not easy to find this traditional delicacy in Singapore, only know of a few stalls and this is the nearest.  They were named as Abacus because the shape and size of these yam balls resemble the beads of a Chinese Abacus (算盤 or counting tray) and symbolises wealth (got $$ to count).  They were boiled and then fragrantly sautéed with hei bi (dried shrimp), shredded carrot, mushrooms and some waxed meat.  The abacus were garnished with spring onions and deep fried shallots.

Liked the texture of the abacus, slightly chewy without sticking to your teeth. The main drawback is the abacus are pre-packed into a container.  The condensed steam seems to make the surface a bit soggy. Believe it will taste much better if eaten immediately after the stir-fry.

Abacus
Rating: 4/5

Glutinous Rice 糯米饭@$1.50
Glutinous rice cooked with mushrooms, waxed meat/sausage, peanuts and small white fish. Fried shallots was sprinkled on top. Same issue as Abacus, its pre-packed and the condensed steam seems to affect the taste.  But the container is definitely very convenient for reheat in the microwave.

Glutinous Rice

According to the old folks, glutinous rice and snack are a bit difficult to digest. As it is sticky, oil is often added to prevent them from sticking together. People are getting more health conscious nowadays, these starchy snacks maybe not be suitable for daily consumption but maybe more for occasional indulgence.

Small tips to beat the queue.

• Poh Cheu provide call & collect service which allow you to skip the long queue.  The condition is the order for each kueh flavour is to come in multiple of 10 only. 
• If you are only interested in the abacus, glutinous rice and rice cake which are pre-packed, you can just take the number of containers you want and pay directly to the stall owner without having to queue.

Poh Cheu
Address: 127 Bukit Merah Lane 1,
#01-230 Singapore
Time: 8am - 6pm, Closed on Sunday & Public Holidays (Except Friday & Saturday)
Tel: +65 6276 2287
http://www.sbestfood.com/pohcheu.htm

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