I always believe that as long as there are Chinese people around, there will always be people willing to pay for good food. The increasingly affluent Chinese in China are forking out lots of money to eat in posh restaurants like Jade Garden Restaurant and South Beauty 俏江南.
Originally from Shanghai, Jade Garden Restaurant now has two outlets in Beijing, one of which is on the first floor of the building where my company's Beijing office is situated. South Beauty is located in the next building where the office used to be located until June this year. So I've eaten many times at both restaurants. Lucky me. Hee.
Jade Garden Restaurant specialises in the cuisine from the provinces of Jiangsu (江苏), Zhejiang (浙江) and the Shanghai municipality. The most famous city in Jiangsu is Suzhou (苏州) and in Zhejiang it's Hangzhou (杭州). The word 汇 (hui) refers to the Shanghai municipality. Jade Garden's interior design is what one would call Chinois chic with Chinese influences fused with Western design - no gaudy red dragons and phoenixes wood carvings adorning the walls and ceilings. It is elegant with pristine white tablecloths, black chairs with clean lines, string beaded curtains in the numerous private rooms in the restaurant for added privacy.
On week days, the clientele stems mainly from the corporate sharks who have to entertain other corporate sharks. On weekends, the place is patronised by many families. The place is always packed and I have no doubt that there are many rich Chinese people out there 'cos the food really isn't what I would call cheap even by Singapore standards.
Serving portions are similar to Singapore, i.e. quite small. This actually suits me fine 'cos most of the time I can't finish the huge portions that many other cheaper restaurants in China serve.
The menu is pretty extensive. There are the cold dishes (凉菜) which are the appetisers. Many of these dishes are sauteed vegetables served cold - I like ordering these cold dishes in the thick of summer but certainly not when it's cold. The mains consist of many stir-fried items, and dishes like preserved vegetables with stewed pork (梅菜扣肉), steamed fish, black pepper pork ribs, stir-fried diced beef in a honey glaze, and Shanghainese dishes like Xiaolongbao (小笼包) pan-fried buns (生煎包) and soup buns (汤包). There's also the famous Yangzhou Fried Rice (扬州炒饭).
It's a nice restaurant to go to for Chinese fine dining in China. Everything is clean and nice and service is good. However, I think I'm getting jaded - even though the food was pretty good, it didn't have the Wow-factor. But still, at the end of a long work day in a foreign city, it's nice to go there and have a good dinner instead of some grubby place. All these on company expense, of course! ;)
Go here to watch the trailer for the 5th Harry Potter film! Looks exciting!
This has nothing to do with Eric Khoo's film Mee Pok Man, but the Mee Pok Man referred to in this post is no less famous. I don't think any SCGS girl, past or present, knew his name. He was simply known as the "Mee Pok Man" in school. I was in Beijing on Saturday night when an ex-colleague who also used to be an SCGS girl sms-ed to tell me that he had died.
I felt a little sad that an icon of SCGS has passed on. He's practically an institution. Numerous batches of SCGS girls (even my mum ate his noodles when she was a student there!) have eaten his noodles. Hell, it was our staple diet. I grew up on it for 10 years, being there from Primary 1 to Secondary 4. The stall used to be run by him, his wife and his elderly mother. The latter scared the hell out of every girl 'cos she was very fierce. I always preferred buying from "Uncle" because he was nicer and his noodles tasted better. But if time doesn't permit and one didn't run out of class to the canteen fast enough, settling for the shorter queue at his mum's side of the stall was the next best thing.
My favourite was always "Mee Pok Tah" (dried mee pok) and I would always ask for only a little of chilli, and maybe sometimes just a little more vinegar.
His noodle stall was definitely the most famous one amongst SCGS girls and I'm sure his memory will live on in many of us.
Tuesday night's dinner was at a hole-in-the-wall eatery at Fortune Centre. If you didn't look consciously, you would definitely miss the small Italian eatery Basil Alcove.
The place is spartanly furnished with only three small tables inside the eatery. The rest of the customers have to sit outside on the yellow benches placed outside along the footpath.
The menu is not extensive. The choice of starters include one or two salads, some mushrooms and bruschettas. We wanted to order the Caesar salad but were told that they had run out of vegetables. Hmmm...that didn't bode well. So we decided to go for the bruschetta instead. This wasn't too bad. The tomatoes were pretty fresh, and it tasted a little tangy and spicy. It came with a tiny cup filled with olive oil for people who wanted to dip the bread in more oil.
Our mains however, took FOREVER to come. We waited for about an hour. Maybe more. If not for the fact that the six of us were just downing beers and talking nonsense to amuse ourselves (that's what happens when you get 6 fun, intelligent, and opiniated women together. haha), we would have stalked off. But soon, our stomachs started to protest.
But our food came eventually. The Chicken Avocado with vegetables and peach chunks was a winner for its $7.90 price tag. The three pieces of chicken were marinated and pan-fried to just the right degree, without tasting too dry. It went well with the avocado puree. The vegetables were a tad salty but nonetheless the dish tasted pretty good.
My choice of Basilico Duck with Pesto Oil and Red Wine Dressing was a big disappointment. The duck wasn't as tasty as the chicken. It tasted rather flat and the dressing didn't do very much to lift the taste. My friend had asked for more avocado to go with her chicken and I used some of it to go with my duck. For $13.80 (one of the most expensive main courses), it really wasn't worth the money. And because they had run out of vegetables, my friend's duck came with potato cubes while mine had vegetables mainly consisting of strips of eggplant and bell peppers on the side. We found it most disconcerting at first that the same dish we had ordered came out different. OK, at least credit must be given to the chef for innovation and the fact that he didn't overcook my duck which I had ordered medium-rare. The lone chef, by the way, is a pony-tailed 23-year-old man called Xander.
Another friend ordered the Pan-fried Mackerel which she said was "not bad". I didn't try it for myself but I will take her word for it since she's pretty discerning of her food too.
Because I had been away in Beijing over the weekend, I wasn't aware that the eatery was featured in the papers over the weekend. Due to the publicity, they are finding themselves overwhelmed by surge in the number of customers. Hence the slow service (it took forever to get someone to take our orders) and the time it took for our food to arrive. And yes, attribute the lack of vegetables to that reason too.
Xander, however, was really apologetic about the long wait for our food and he apologised for it. He and his uncle were nice enough to pour us a cup of red wine each from a fresh bottle as a way of making up for the wait. Overall, we were pretty pleased with the food at those prices.
So anyway, we left at about 10.45pm after sipping wine and talking more nonsense. That was Part 1 of the action over. Part 2 went on at Balaclava with more drinks. It was a fitting farewell for one of the girls who's leaving for London!
Basil Alcove
190 Middle Road
#01-07, Fortune Centre
(S) 188979
Tel: 63361318
The thing about buffets is that even though you get to eat a lot, you don't get much satisfaction from the food 'cos it's all just so mass-produced (so to speak).
The Plaza Market Cafe at Raffles the Plaza was the venue for an extended family dinner two Saturdays ago. My aunt saw the ad for their Peranakan buffet and thought of giving it a try.
It turned out to be more of an international spread to me. There was the sashimi and sushi platter, but I thought the fish weren't very fresh and tasty. It just didn't taste good. There were also raw oysters for the oyster lovers. There was also a do-it-yourself Caesar salad counter and a section with small helpings of cold appetisers.
The Peranakan elements were in the nonya laksa, kueh pie ti, popiah, beef rendang and some other nasi padang-like dishes. There were also some Chinese stir-fry dishes. I liked the pork ribs.
The desserts comprised about 1/3 of the entire buffet spread. It had a selection of cakes, nonya kuehs, fruits, ice cream, the ubiquitous chocolate fountain, and durian pudding which was rich and smooth. The latter's a must for people who love the spiky fruit!
Overall, the food was mediocre and I could have found much tastier food at much lower prices elsewhere. Definitely not worth the $42+++/pax. In addition, the service was slow as our plates weren't cleared fast enough and the wait staff were slow in bringing our orders of water and tea/coffee all the time.
Verdict: Not worth the money.
Plaza Market Cafe
Level 2, Raffles The Plaza
2 Stamford Road
Singapore 178882
Tel: 6431 6156
I was walking towards International Plaza to get some breakfast when I heard an "Excuse me."
I turned around to find myself facing a woman in her 20s. At first I thought she wanted to ask me for directions. So imagine my surprise when she said, "Oh, I just wanted to say that I really like how your shoes match your earrings so well!"
So sweet of her! I thanked her for her lovely compliment and also noticed that she was wearing a lovely necklace, and complimented her on it as well. She chirpily replied that her grandmother had made it for her. Cool, yah! Then we bade each other goodbye with a "Have a fantastic day!"
I think this has really made my day! I should learn from that stranger - a compliment or two can really make a difference to someone's day!
Thank you everyone for all the birthday wishes and presents! Monoceros gave me the Postsecret book today! I'm so happy! Love, love, love the book!
Dinner last night was at Kinara, a north Indian restaurant along Boat Quay. We had butter chicken, fish tikka and a spinach and ricotta cheese curry. The food was OK. Edible, but I've definitely had better curry. The garlic naan was pretty good though. It was fresh and soft and had the right amount of garlic.
After dinner we headed to Fez Bar (located just above Kinara) for the pub quiz night. My friends and I just enjoy pitting our wits against others as we are such competitive women (being competitive paddlers)! Ahaha! But no, we didn't win the quiz 'cos it was quite tough. Mainly 'cos a lot of the questions were of stuff before our era. And one round was about weapons! I mean, who gives a damn about weapons??? We told the quiz master that we want a round about clothes and shoes in future. ;p
Anyway, one of Fez's operators made me down a Flaming Lamborghini. Oh man, you should have seen that thing. He had stacked up a few glasses with the bottom one filled with a very potent mix of various kinds of alcohol. But just the bottom one filled was bad enough. And with a flick of his lighter, the entire glass tower burst into flames and I was given a straw to suck that very potent mixture down at one go.
Well, I managed to down everything in a minute and the next 1.5 hours saw the alcohol working into my system and going to the toilet twice to puke...
BUT I was still very sober; mainly 'cos I had thrown up everything. Wahaha. That's going to be my first and last Flaming Lamborghini. That thing's evil!
... 27 and picked up 28 today. Years, that is.
And I'm all set to party with my girlfriends tonight! Woohoo!
Yipee - I've now joined another club called the "Lunch Bunch". Now now, I know what you're probably thinking. You think dimsumdolly has registered herself at some dating agency because she just can't get any dates. OK, while that said fact is true (*grumble grumble*) that is not what the Lunch Bunch is about. So please don't get us confused with one of those dating agencies which specialises in organising lunch dates.
Basically this tiny group came about because us five foodies (one thorn and four roses) decided to meet for a nice, leisurely lunch at Iggy's last Thursday. We had all met before at the 2nd floggers' meeting held at Sage in September and at another makan outing. Since we all enjoyed each other's company, we decided to meet again on a smaller scale and settled on what is purportedly Asia's 4th best restaurant.
Located on the third floor of The Regent hotel, Iggy's decor is tastefully furnished with cream, earth and brownish tones, and exudes simple, graceful elegance. Shortly after I sat myself down, I was presented with a basket full of mini baguettes and some olive bread. Being not a huge fan of the baguette, I went for the triangle-shaped olive bread. I was pleased to find that it was warm and it turned out to be an olive ciabatta. It had a nice fluffiness and just the right amount of olive oil and olive bits in it. There's nothing quite like fresh bread! The butter that came with it had a slighty salty taste to it and I liked how it tasted.
We went for the lunch set which costs $45+++ for a three-course meal. An additional $30 would have been added if the wagyu strip had been chosen for the main course.
Not long after, our amuse bouche of sesame tofu under a layer of soft pumpkin puree came served in a shot glass. This little concoction looked very pretty with the finely speckled bed of white tofu sitting under that muted orange layer with some fine sprinkles of green spring onions to finish off the look. The sesame taste was subtle as the saltiness of the tofu and the slight sweetness of the pumpkin puree teased the tastebuds.
I chose the linguini with black truffle oil and mushrooms as my starter. While it did not look pretty - it looked like a black lump of wet poo dumped on linguini - it definitely tasted good. The smell of the truffle oil and the mushroom puree was heavenly. The dish was rich and silky in texture. I didn't regret my choise despite how it looked.
For my main course, I went for the wagyu goulash. Though tasty, I felt that the spices used in this dish was a bit too much for me. I might have preferred the wagyu burger which one of us chose. It looked so cute because it was so tiny - was like a toy burger.
For desserts, all five of us chose different ones. And because I have this obsession with tiramisus, I had to order that. The extremely tiny slice of tiramisu (just about 4cm by 2cm - I'm not kidding) was moist and creamy. It was good enough, but it's not the best I've had. It came with a tiny cup of ice cappuccino which - surprise surprise - had some coffee mousse under the layer of milk foam. The mousse was light and not too sweet and tasted great.
Overall, a pleasant dining experience but definitely not a place one can frequent too often unless you're out to render yourself bankrupt. I'm told it's more worth it to go for lunch rather than dinner as the latter can cost twice as much for the same amount of food. Service was also good.
Go here to read Skinny Epicurean's account of our lunch at Iggy's. She has some nice pictures on her blog! Anyway, we're trying to get this Lunch Bunch going on a regular basis and the number is growing as we're getting more foodies to join us in the next one. Can't wait!
Iggy's
The Regent Singapore, Level 3,
1 Cuscaden Rd
Tel: 6732 2234
Great weekend of racing. Us ladies did quite well, coming in second in the Minor Final. So we got some metalware! It's great paddling with the ladies and feeling that connection in the boat where everyone really wanted very much to win something.
Anyway, a few updates to come on eating places but have to get back to work first! Flying off to Beijing on Friday. Yucks.
If you don't have anything to do this weekend, you might want to consider dropping by Boat Quay to catch the dragon boat races at the Singapore River Regatta. It's the last dragon boat race for the year!
After going outrigger canoeing all the way to St John's Island and back in the morning, followed by a tough dragon boat practice in the afternoon, my teammate and I decided we had to have a hearty dinner to reward ourselves for all that hard work.
"Hearty" translated to devouring lots of meat at Carnivore at Chijmes. For $39+++, you can help yourself to a buffet consisting of a salad bar and the chefs will then come round to your table with skewers of meat. Your choice of grilled meat consist of chicken thigh, chicken breast, chicken heart, fish, rump steak, pork, lamb, sausages, and some other cuts. There was also grilled garlic bread and pineapple.
While none of the meat was overcooked nor did it taste awful, there was not much of a "WOW!" factor. The salads and meats certainly were edible, but there wasn't the oh-my-god-I-just-died-and-gone-to-heaven kind of reaction to the food. Service was prompt and friendly as the chefs come around often with their skewers of meat, always ready to prod you to eat more. Most of the meat looked pretty appetising except for those tiny chicken hearts.
You pay for the variety, but honestly I couldn't eat that much. I definitely didn't eat $39+++ worth of food. Anyway, it's a place I would go to only if I were really hungry and in a mood for LOTS of meat.
Carnivore
Chijmes #01-29A
Tel: 6334-9332