Sunday, June 21, 2015

PappaRich@JB City Square

PappaRich is a new generation of restaurants that started in Malaysia to feature Malaysia cuisine.   On their menu, you can find nasi lemak, mutton curry, etc, which are ordinary Malaysian food.  


The PappaRich restaurant in JB City Square is located on level 4, right next to Popular Bookstore.  The place is not very big, and it is decorated in colonial style?  Well, I can't really tell for sure, but it does have some colonial Malaysia feel to it. 

Mutton Curry

White Bread (Roti)

For my 'main' course, I ordered mutton curry with white bread.  The curry came piping hot.  It was not very spicy, which quite characteristic of Singapore and Malaysia curry.  Dipping a piece of white bread into the curry and finish it in one bite, wow, it was nice!  

The mutton was stewed well, soft and melts in your mouth.  However, it was a pity that the mutton was cold, although the curry was piping hot.  Most probably the mutton was prepared somewhere in a central kitchen and then distribute to all the branches, re-heat to serve to customers.  This is something that I don't like, as it lacks the personal attention from the chef.  Well, in this modern world of fast food era, in which everybody is impatient, this probably is the best compromise we can have.  

Steamed Buns with Red Bean 
I also ordered some steamed buns with red bean fillings.  I highly suspect it is machine made.  Ok, they are good for filling up my stomach.  

The total cost for this meal is RM 30.15, including 10% service charge and 6% GST.  With SGD:MYR=1:2.78, I think the price is decent, not too cheap, not too expensive.  


Saturday, June 13, 2015

Wo Peng Cuisine

Wo Peng cuisine is restaurant hidden on level 2 of Furama City Center Hotel, specialised in Cantonese cuisine.  I would not have known about this place if there is a 50% Groupon on it.


The place has a very retro interior, which will make you think of those 70s Hong Kong TV dramas.  On Sunday, the shopping area of Furama Hotel is mostly closed, this restaurant seem to be the only one operating.

The senior staff was quite friendly, but the junior staff was a bit lost, as usual.  We arrived at around 6.15pm, and we were told that dinner was until 7.45pm.

Claypot Egg Plant 

Noodle with mushroom and bean sprouts, $18.00

We ordered two less expensive, and supposingly bigger portion dishes, the claypot egg plant and noodles.  The taste was quite as expected, although they didn't have a very strong taste, more plain.

Shitiake Mushroom with Sea Cucumber, $9.80/set

Steamed Longli Fish, $12.80/set

Next we went for more 'exclusive' dishes.  One is the shiitake mushroom with sea cucumber.  The key to the success of this dish will be in the sauce.  However, in this case I think their sauce was a bit too plain.  It didn't have any lasting impact on your taste buds for them to remember.

The Longli fish was better.  The sauce did its work, and the fish was reasonably fresh.

Osmanthus Jelly, $8.00/set

For dessert, we ordered the Osmanthus jelly.  I would say this was the best of the night.  The fragrance of the flower, although not strong, would linger in your mouth, stimulating your senses of your nose.  It was not too sweet, just nice.

Overall, I would say it was an enjoyable meal, however, it was quite expensive.  In total, we spent $97 if we didn't have the Groupon voucher.  We used the Groupon voucher, which is worth $100 while we only paid $49.90.   And to be honest, only days after, I found out that they made a mistake in the bill, they somehow charged us $0 for the egg plant claypot, if not for this mistake, we would have to pay even more.


Monday, June 8, 2015

The Line@Shangri-la Singapore

We went to The Line @ Shangri-la to celebrate a friend birthday.  To book online, you can do it here.  Make sure you click on 'Book by Promotion', then choose '15% discount for online reservation'.  If you don't choose this option, you won't get the 15% discount even if you book online.



Seafood is always the first stop when I go for buffet.  They have a selection of Alaska crab legs, prawns, crabs, scallops, clams, and mussels.


Here is my first round :)  Their Alaska crab legs are good, definitely worth the money!  However, I notice that when it is towards the end of the buffet, sometimes the crab legs are not available, or even if available, there is a huge shrink in size.  So if you want to have good crab legs, come at 6pm, when they start the buffet.






They are said to have 16 different stations, but anyway I didn't really count the numbers.  I know they have Indian, Chinese, western, Japanese cuisines.


Their sashimi is not bad.  The roast beef is a bit too raw, too bloody for me.  The Chinese section offers black chicken ginseng soup, which is quite nice to have something hot.


The dessert station is good.  Somehow I like most of their cakes.  And for ice cream, they offer gelato ice cream.  My friend went for quite a number of rounds.

The sitting environment is good.  The tables are not too close to each other.  The ceiling of the cafe is high so you have lots of breathing space.  Looking out of the cafe, it is the beautiful swimming pool in Shangri-la Hotel.

It is a good place for some friends to gather and chit-chat, celebrate someone's birthday, etc.  On that night, there were quite a few groups having birthday celebrations.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Simply Peranakan


We went to Punggol Road End for dinner and a walk on Vesak Day.  Simply Peranakan is located on the end of the 2nd floor of Punggol Settlement.


The outdoor seating offers a panorama view of the Johor Strait.  A pity that the Malaysia side is nothing but a busy port, with all the cargo ships berthing there, and all that industry setup.  Anyway, it still offers a view and a breeze, sometimes.

Fried Mixed Vegetable and Furong Egg

Samba Pomfret

The restaurant claims to offer authentic Nonya food, but then the way I look at it, it is not so authentic.  The sauce for the samba Promfret tasted nothing like Nonya, and the fish itself was a bit too dry too stiff.

The fried vegetables and eggs are quite ok though, but again they lack the sour taste for Peranakan food.

The two of us spent $60 for the three dishes, plus one fried rice, a plain rice and fresh coconut and a sour plum drink.  The service was quite reasonable.