Paris Spring Fish Head @ Casuarina Road

It was a cold, rainy Sunday and mother hen was craving for some hot soup to soothe herself after a massage session!  

Chancing upon this restaurant along Casuarina road, there's nothing french about this restaurant; at least for its romanised name.

The Chinese name, however, mentioned Dong Ting, indicative of the Dong Ting Lake in China; the origin of dragon boat racing.

Anyway, enough of the unrelated, weird English-Chinese translation of many companies' name that is becoming a norm even in Singapore!!

Mixed Seafood Mushroom Soup

Shiok!! Simple with a touch of home was the best description!

I might travel all the way to Casuarina just for this bowl of soup! Soup is better than carbo anyway and will seriously help in weight reduction!

Sweet and Sour Pork

Unlike most sweet and sour pork, the fried meat balls were already filled with the sweetness and sourness (obviously) instead of the usually drenched style. The only bad thing about this dish was that the pork was mixed with too much flour!!

Assorted Mushroom with Beancurd

Another dish that i personally liked (since i really like mushrooms)!

Great to pour this over a bowl of steaming, white rice!

=====

I shall try their supposedly signature fish head steamboat next time.

Location

126, Casuarina Road

Price

Mixed Seafood Mushroom Soup - S$5.00

Sweet and Sour Pork - S$8.00

Assorted Mushroom with Beancurd - S$8.00

No Service Charge, No GST!!

Steamboat @ Xian De Lai Shanghai Cuisine (鲜得来)

Steamboat

@ Xian De Lai Shanghai Cuisine

A few of my regular lunch buddies have decided to leave the organisation for greener pastures and it was decided that a farewell dinner be held in one steamboat restaurant (鲜得来) along the Liang Seah Street area.

Although i would have preferred one that i am familiar with (note: House of Steamboat), it's always beneficial to try other restaurants of the same genre for comparison sake.

Featuring the increasingly common yuan-yang (鸳鸯) hotpot, i wasn't that impressed by the soup bases we had; special duck, chicken, spicy soups etc. They were not downright disgusting; just pretty normal.

My favourite sauce concoction; peanuts with sesame oil and spring onions and a dash of sugar!!

What goes really well with this doesn't-look-that-appealing mixed peanut sauce? Quality beef done shabu shabu style! *Salivates*

Plates upon plates of steamboat ingredients. Being a meat person, i was however not feeling extremely adventurous that day. A pity if you ask me, because it's really difficult to compare with House of Steamboat.

Want to see the full list of ingredients and soup bases? Please look above!!

A traditional Chinese dessert; cold Green Bean soup! I like it but my fellow colleagues felt it was too sweet.

=====

Location

18, Liang Seah Street

(opposite Bugis Junction)

Closes at 3.00 am.

Price (Lunch and Dinner)

Monday to Thursday - S$17.80 each

Friday to Sunday - S$18.80 each

Public Holiday (PH) and Eve of PH - S$18.80 each

Supper (after 10.30pm) - S$13.80 each

Subject to 10% Service Charge. Drinks are subject to extra charges although plain water is served upon request.

The hotpot was chargeable at S$5.00 each with two soup bases)!!! This is something i don't agree with. We paid for steamboat buffet and it's obvious that soups in a hotpot must come with it FOC!

Additional Information

I wouldn't be back in Xian De Lai even though it was pretty crowded for a Thursday! I still could not accept the fact i have to pay additional for the soup bases.

Is that a norm?! 

Damn!

Vegetarian Food Fiesta 2010 @ Ren Ci Hospital

Thanks to Ms Chui, who kindly passed me S$30 worth of coupons for my spending pleasure in the above mentioned annual event with no strings attached!!!

Maybe it's because of all the help i have patiently dispensed to her since she joined the company! Hahaha (not really funny).

In spite of the rain, turnout was pretty good with so many people!!

There were also many vegetarian food stalls, well-loved by my Buddhist mummy!!!!

Without having any lunch at close to almost 2pm, my starved stomach was craving for much needed energy food!

Yes, mee siam!!!

I am usually very picky with mee siam as i prefer mine to be sweet yet a bit (pinkie finger) spicy. This one made the cut although it can do better with a bit more chilli.

The sour plum drink was damn refreshing and helpful for a sore throat that has been lingering for too long in my physical self!

Unfortunately, mummy had a massage appointment and i have to cut short my supposedly vegetarian food gorging exploration...

Well, at least i managed to have fun with the baby brat. Family is really important, don't you think so?

^_^

Megumi Japanese Restaurant @ Upper East Coast Road (Siglap)

Mr Kon has always been a great the best contributor for the restaurants i patronised and this time, it's this Japanese restaurant in the famous chill-out area; Siglap.

I don't have to give much explanation on Japanese cuisine, with it gaining a very strong foothold in Singapore for a few decades already.

So let's go straight to the food we had!

Mixed Sashimi Salad

Overall, this was a refreshing dish with its use of raw seafood instead of cooked meat as we usually know. 

Sadly, the dressings and seasonings seemed to be out of place. Personally, raw fish should just go with soy sauce and wasabi.

UFO Maki

The soft vinegarish rice with generous sprinklings of fish roe was obviously a big contrast to the crunchy fried seafood wrapped in the middle.

I love it!

Tempura Moriawase

They were not extraordinary.

Henceforth, not something i will specially come back for.

Suki Yaki

This is a dish i will definitely come back for!

The slices of nicely marbled beef were nothing to scream about. It's the soup that really matters in tingling thousands of your taste buds!

Clear, light yet full of flavours!!

Tori Katsu Curry Rice

Granted the chicken cutlet was crunchy but we all know Japanese curry differs very much from the Indian, Singapore curry we know.

Yes, i still prefer the curry prepared by my dear mummy!

Unagi Yaki Meshi

Typically a dish of fried rice with grilled eel, the unagi was not as tasty as what i expected it.

On its own however, the fried rice was a killer!!!

Gyu Don

My favourite BBQ beef don of all times came from this home style Japanese eatery in Junction, which had since closed down.

For a long period of time, a comparable gyu don had never been found. Until yesterday when i dined in Megumi!

Each spoonful was so amazingly memorable; slightly soggy rice that was soaked in a delish teriyaki sauce with one raw egg, slices of fresh onions, spring onions, seaweed and of course, yummy beef!!

Shoyu Char Siew Ramen

With my take on various famous ramen restaurants this year, this took a pretty average rating.

=====

With the best gyu don and sukiyaki i ever have, this is a restaurant i am confirmed to be back again!

Location

77, Upper East Coast Road,

#01-03

Price

Mixed Sashimi Salad - S$10.80 

UFO Maki - S$12.00 

Tempura Moriawase - S$16.80  

Suki Yaki - S$17.80 

Unagi Yaki Meshi - S$9.80 

Tori Katsu Curry Rice - S$9.80

Gyu Don - S$13.80 

Shoyu Char Siew Ramen - S$9.80

10% Service Charge and 7% GST. Free flow of plain water.

Additional Information

You can choose to be seated indoors or outdoors (we choose the area with aircon of course!)

For car drivers, there is a small private car park right outside the restaurant (shared with their neighbours) with valet service too!

StarCraft II

Please wait for me to complete the campaigns of the newly launched StarCraft II before i start to blog on my two recent makan sessions at Xian De Lai Steamboat and Megumi Japanese Restaurant!!!

It's at times like this that i hope humans will never go into a deep slumber (no sleeping) and fully utilise the seconds, minutes and hours given to us!

Especially so after watching the movie "Inception" where extraction and inception make dreaming much less innocent than what we thought it has always been.

Okay, challenge three!

Hundreds more to go!

Random

After my charitable and supposedly noble (according to friends) shave at Vivocity last Sunday, i was wandering around the children area when i saw this ultra cute scene!!

 This basset hound is just a normal glass decal but the adorable little girl was touching it as if it's the real thing!!

She looked as if she was massaging the doggie's head right?!?! Okay, maybe picking ticks out of the head!!

It's time like this that i really want a kid and capture these candid moments.

Until i remember what a brat my nephew is.

=_=