KimChi Restaurant at Suntec

After the multi-year renovation of Suntec Mall, there are more restaurants available.  One of them is a Korean casual dining place called KimChi, supposely after the famous Korean dish.

My order is H6 Daeji Bulgogi.  Basically it is pork (or beef?) in a stone bone, together with lots of vegetables, such a broccoli, mushroom, onions, etc.  I think everything is already ready made, and then re-heat to serve to the customers.  In my case, I think the food was warm, but not really hot.
The presentation of the food is not bad, it looks appetizing.  In terms of taste, the pork is tender, and thinly sliced.  One think I don't like it very much is the mushroom is raw.  I prefer well-cooked mushrooms, for food safety reason.

Overall I think it is reasonable, and the price is not high.  The cost for this dish is $14.90++.  

Bangkok Jam at Plaza Singapura

I don't really know the story behind Bangkok Jam, but I suppose it is to provide modern Thai dining experiences.

Mixed Grill, S$25

We ordered a plate of mixed grill to share between the two of us.  The food portion is reasonable.  The sotong looks good and tastes good too, especially with the sauces provided.  Look at how thick the sotong is, and the meaty feeling is satisfying.  The prawns are not bad.  BBQed to such an extent that the shell becomes fragrant, and adds to sensation and smell of the fresh prawn.

The beef is a let-down, I must say, it is too dry, to hard, and very difficult to chew.  In addition, it is a bit tasteless.  The chicken is good though.  Slightly burnt on the skin, but the inside is totally intact, retaining all the juice and remains tender.  My friend in particular likes the grilled chicken.

Clear Tom Yam Soup, S$10.90

The clear tom yam soup comes in very small portion, with a really tiny amount of soup.  The ingredients are just so so, not very fantastic, the soup is quite good, strong in taste, and it is very spicy.  You need some rice to come with it, or it may not be acceptable to people who don't eat spicy food.

Pow Sing at Serangoon Garden

Pow Sing is a popular place for office workers to have a lunch gathering.  The restaurant has been there for more than a decade since I got to know the place, and they are still going strong.

Steamed Chicken

Their signature dish is the steamed chicken.  It is a must-order dish whenever we come here for lunch.  The chicken has jelly like skin, firm but tender and juicy meat.  It is different from the other famous chicken rice stalls such as Zhen Zhen at Marvell or the Ipoh Lou You Bean Sprout Chicken.  It has its own unique style.

Curry Fish Head

Another signature dish is the curry fish head.  Personally I find it good, but not exceptionally good.  The fish head is fresh, that is a plus point, but the curry is a bit more watery.

Crispy Sotong Rings

My former boss's must-have dish is the crispy sotong ring.  Somehow they can get the whole sotong ring super crispy.  Every bite comes with the crushing sound.  I quite like this dish, although it is not really healthy.

Other dishes such as Wu Xiang and the Sambal Kunkong are not bad.

It is one of those restaurants that carries the Singapore traditional food, and surviving.  I hope it will continue to survive so that we can enjoy some quality Singapore local food, at a reasonable price.

Mission Impossible 5

Mission Impossible is a never ending series, and Tom Cruise seems to be the never ending hero as well.  The first Mission Impossible movie was released back in 1996, almost 30 years ago.  And until today, we are still seeing the never-get-old Tom Cruise doing the impossible in the movie.

M. I. 5 continues to give movie goers the thrill of actions and the complexity of the plot.  The story line is a little plain but yet still have some necessary twists and turns, and suspense sometimes, to keep the audience's attention.

Swedish actress Rebecca Ferguson adds quite some life to the movie and makes the movie more interesting.

Overall, it is a good action movie that entertains the audience well.

Sum's Kitchen and Hong Kong Roast Meat

This restaurant is adjacent to the famous Sembawang White Bee Hoon.  The decoration is from the last century, and retains lots of old times charm.

My friend recommended the roast duck.  This may not be THE best, but it is still one of the best I think.  I saw some reviews saying it is no longer as good as it used to before, so I guess it was even better in the past.  The duck skin is crispy, that's the basic requirement.  The meat retains reasonable amount of juice, and still firm, but not chewy.

Roast Duck

Daily Soup

Chinese Spinach with Egg and Century Egg 

Egg Plant

Steam Chicken with Black Fungus

The other dishes we ordered were all common Cantonese dishes.  Fried Chinese spinach with egg and century egg was good.  I think I didn't have this dish for quite some years, as many places don't offer this dish anymore, but it was very common some ten years ago here in Singapore,

The steam chicken with black fungus was not bad.  The fungus and dates brought out the freshness of the chicken meat.

I enjoyed my dinner very much.  This restaurant offers good Cantonese food at a reasonable price.  Guess how much was the total bill?

The restaurant is a bit small though.  There are only 6 tables indoor, and ~4 tables outdoor.

Dian Xiao Er at JEM

Long time didn't visit Dian Xiao Er so on a Sunday, we decided to have lunch at its JEM branch.  It was lunch time but still not too many people.  The dining environment is not bad, surrounded by very traditional Chinese decorations, but the restaurant is a bit small and the place is a bit cramp.

Danggui Roast Duck

We ordered their set meal.  The first dish that came out was their signature dish - Roast Duck in Dang-gui sauce.  This is also my favourite dish.  The duck is crispy, while it has a strong taste of Dang-gui - a Chinese herb, and the meat is still tender.  No other restaurant here in Singapore can make duck dishes this good yet.

Fish Maw Soup

Next was the fish maw soup.  It has the presentation of shark's fin soup, but actually it is fish maw.  Fish maw is a lot more shark friendly than shark's fin, however, the taste is just as good as shark's fin.  

Dong Po Pork

There was a Dong Po Rou dish as well.  It is named after a famous Song Dynasty Chinese poet Su Dong Po.  Legend has it that when he was the governor of Hang Zhou, he managed the city very well.  Once people in the city brought him a lot of pork, to show their appreciation for Su Dong Po's good governance.  There was simply too much pork to consume so Mr Su Dong Po, as a foodies himself, taught the people how to cook this pork stew.  At the end, they used all the pork to cook this pork stew, and distributed it to the people in Hang Zhou.  As a memory of Mr Su's good deed, people named this dish after him.  The authentic dish actually would use pork with lots of fat, and it will have the sensation of melting in your mouth.  However, people nowadays are more health conscious, so the restaurant uses more lean meat than fat.  The sensation is less strong but it is more healthy.

Steamed Fish

Their steamed fish was not bad too.  They added some slices of pork, ginger, and dates.  The dates actually is a very important ingredient, it helps to bring out the freshness in the fish.

I would say this visit was pleasant and probably I will come back again in the future.

Menya Musashi Takatora at WestGate Mall

Previously I tried Menya Musashi's branch at Ion (See the post here).  Their soup was too salty for my taste.  This time, I tried their branch at Westgate Mall.

The decoration of the restaurant is interesting and unusual.  The mural is very Japanese and of the yester-years.

My order was the black pork rib ramen (Black Bukotsu Mori Ramen).  When the ramen was served, the soup indeed looked black.  At first I thought the soup looked black probably because they put soy sauce, but then as I used the spoon to scoop up the soup, I found the 'black' actually was some particles.  I didn't ask the service staff what that really is, but could be something interesting.

The pork was stewed till very soft and it really melt in your mouth.  Onsen egg was tender and soft too.  It is one of my favourite.   As for ramen, people always say the soup is what determines a good bowl of ramen.  In this case, the soup was excellent.  It was thick in taste, but light in salt.  I supposed they adjusted their salt content to suit the local taste, which I think is good and more healthy too.  The ramen itself was good too.  It was crunchy but not hard.

I would say this is one of the best ramen restaurants here in Singapore.

Astons Specialities at Safra Toa Payoh

The chain of restaurants bearing the ASTON name seem to be very popular.  There are always queues at the entrance on weekends, so I decided to give them a try.

We arrived at Aston at Safra Toa Payoh at around 7.20pm on a Friday night.  There was a short queue there.  Usually in a restaurant, you will be seated first, read the menu, place your order, and before you go, pay your bill.  At Aston, obviously the sequence is a bit different.  You read the menu when you are still in the queue.  Place your orders when it is your turn, and then make the payment at the cashier, and then you will be seated.  Food will be served after that.  I will say it is one optimization of the work flow, more efficient for the kitchen and also in terms of table turn-around.

The dining environment is pleasant, tables are not too close together.

I ordered a medium-well steak, which comes with two side dishes, which you can choose from their menu of both cold and hot side dishes.

The food is quite ok, not premium grade no doubt, but it is reasonable and acceptable.  For the two of us, food plus beverage was only S$32 after a 10% Safra member discount.  I think this is very reasonably priced.