Dim Sum @ Canton Paradise (樂天小香港) outside Bishan MRT Station [Singapore] #dimsum

The Paradise Group is well known among the Chinese population in Singapore, with 12 brands under their corporate umbrella, starting with Seafood Paradise that popped out more than 10 years ago in an industrial area at Kovan. 

Canton Paradise used to have a branch in Yishun at Northpoint City Mall and we frequented enough to even have a membership! Nowadays, it's rare for us to visit and the reason why we went to its Bishan branch was because there's a S$40 member voucher (with minimum spend of S$80)! 

I chose to go on the last day of redemption and as expected, the restaurant was at full capacity. Reservation was full and the most I could do was to collect a queue ticket and wait for our turn.

Our queue was finally called more than an hour later! We sort of expected it and had proceeded to the food court at Junction 8 to grab some snacks and drinks. It was almost 8.00 pm and there were still 26 groups in the queue for tables that can accommodate 3-5 persons! 

For efficiency, the maitre d' had provided us with the order list and once our queue number was called, the filled up order list would be passed for immediate processing.

Going up to the second level of the branch! 

Within 15 minutes, our table was already half filled with the dim sum! More to come but well, let's kick start with the review of the food we had for my family of five persons.

Prawn Wanton Noodle - necessary to have some starch as my parents are not into starch-restricted diet like my sisters and I. For me, I am not that strict though and took a small serving for the sake of trying. 

I actually enjoyed the rubber band noodle; prawn broth was comfortable, not extremely seafood sweet although you can still taste that nice, prawn flavor. Sadly, the prawn wanton didn't wow us like the ones from their sister restaurant; le shrimp ramen. 

Baked BBQ Pork Pastry - Flaky pastry skin that wasn't overly thick with savory gooey char siew that made biting into one so satisfying! Or maybe because I was quite hungry.

Steamed BBQ Pork Bun - I presume they use the same char siew filling although this tasted sweeter. Texture of bun was softer and unfortunately, had that irritating ability to stick in between my teeth! 

Crispy BBQ Pork Bun - I must not be thinking straight; another BBQ pork dim sum!? However, this version is the most recommended and to me, only the ones from Tim Ho Wan are better.

While char siew was again the same as the aforementioned two dim sum earlier, what I loved most was the crunchier top shell of this bun, which I always feel was a smoother version of the polo bun top. 

Prawn Ha Kao - this classic dim sum is often on the menu, together with siew mai. It didn't disappoint with pieces of fresh prawns held together by a pork lard based paste, but didn't wow. 

Wanton Chilli Oil - I first had this at crystal jade a long time ago and super loved the combination of vinegar and chilli with plump dumplings! The ones at Canton Paradise had that mala, numbing sensation although it wasn't heavy with vinegar. Still good for me; my family thought it wasn't authentic enough. 

Prawn Mango Fritter - crispy outer layer that didn't feel heavy with light cream in the inside. Only issue, the amount of prawns within was pathetic! Enjoyable, nonetheless.

Prawn Chee Cheong Fun and BBQ Pork Chee Cheong Fun - back when Canton Paradise was in Yishun, Alex always go for the chee cheong fun so it's a no brainer I would order this time.

Silky smooth skin, albeit a bit thick, sauce was palatable enough; the things that needed improvement were surprisingly the fillings. Both the prawns and BBQ pork were dry and standard was far from the ones we used to have in Yishun.

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I still can't imagine why I would miss out the siew mai. What the case, the meal was acceptable although there were some disappointments; i.e. chee cheong fun. Company was great as we managed to dine out as one family; pity the current limit doesn't allow us to have my brother in law, niece and nephew to join us.

Address

9 Bishan Place,

Junction 8, #01-51, 

Singapore 579837

Website

https://www.paradisegp.com/brand-canton-paradise/

Pricing

Prawn Wanton Noodle - S$10.80

Baked BBQ Pork Pastry - S$6.80 

Steamed BBQ Pork Bun - S$5.80

Crispy BBQ Pork Bun - S$6.80

Prawn Ha Kao - S$6.70

Wanton Chilli Oil - S$7.00

Prawn Mango Fritter - S$7.50

Prawn Chee Cheong Fun - S$7.20

BBQ Pork Chee Cheong Fun - S$6.50

Tea - S$2.00 per person

(Subject to Service Charge and GST)

Jogging Track on Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas (Cruise to Nowhere)

Jogging is one exercise I have been continuously doing since the start of the pandemic and given that I don't have a gym membership; the activity usually takes place around my neighborhood.

Back when I was deliberating if I should join my friend for a cruise on Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas (Cruise to Nowhere); one of the questions that popped out was where I can jog. To be honest, I personally dislike using the treadmill. 

Thankfully, there's a jogging track on deck 15 of the cruise ship! Even though I don't prefer loops when I am jogging, it's still much preferred over the treadmill. 

As indicated on the plan, one lap circled 553 meters and for my usual 5-kilometer jog, slightly more than nine laps would suffice. I tried using my apple watch to check the distance but maybe because the cruise was sailing; I got weird distances on two occasions. 

From the above photograph, would you know where the jogging tracks are? I thought it's quite obvious that the peach-colored route would be the tracks. However, many people love to block up the entire passage! Being the considerate man, and wanting to avoid any conflicts, my solution was to jog at strange hours; e.g. closer to midnight / sunny days. 

Sometimes, the paths would be too narrow; and for that, I would understand. Many people would gladly give way but well, you sometimes just need a few persons who decided not to, to spoil the day.

This section would be where the bow of the cruise ship is; which means you would likely be fighting against the wind that the ship is travelling towards! It was tiring yet strangely exhilarating.

On some days, you would see sun bathers but knowing Singaporeans in general, it's usually the younger generation and even then, many preferred to stick to the air-conditioned indoors. 

Due to safe management measures, many deck chairs were also folded up even though the numbers don't quite matter as the most I saw was an occupancy of about 30% and even then, they were not used for sunbathing. 

Every day, I will say hi to the 30-foot tall pink polar bear! 

It always seemed to be waiting for me to jog past. 

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For the summary of my 4 nights' ocean getaway cruise on board Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas, please click here.

Chi Tai Bao Mookata @ Koufu HQ Foodcourt in Woodlands [Singapore]

The paddle-pop sky was beautiful but I couldn't stop my jog to take more photographs as I had to concentrate on clearing the eerie Gambas Avenue before the descent of darkness. 

Most importantly, however, was the destination in Woodlands, where I had arranged to meet my friends for dinner. They took cab whereas I used my legs; which would infer an earlier arrival time for them and I must make haste since I had the intention to blog about this new eatery! 

After 32 minutes and across 5.65 kilometers, I reached Koufu HQ. My friends were actually later than I as they waited a long time for the cab. Lesson learnt; they should have accompanied me for the jog. 

Our star today -  Chi Tai Bao Mookata @ the Koufu foodcourt within the building! If you understand Chinese, the name "chi tai bao" sounded a lot like "eat too much" although it's a play of word on the character tai which means Thai. 

It's my first visit and I didn't know what I should do. The boss, a young chap, was friendly, and suggested the meat platter (chi meat bao) as their November promotion then was to give a complimentary vegetable platter (chi cai bao) with every meat platter when you 'like' their facebook page or follow their instagram! 

Deliberating on the order while waiting for my friends. There might be changes to the order list as I noted from their facebook that a seafood platter was on their mind. In mookata, I am actually keener in meat than seafood though.

Confirmed the order as above! The meat platter consisted four types of pork belly and four types pf chicken thighs with the following marination; original, garlic, black pepper and mala. So I added both with the last marination; teriyaki, plus minced meat patties, beef shortplate and of course, mama tomyum noodle! 

The setup with gas-powered grill plate; was so glad to see the pack of tissue paper! When it comes to eating mookata, good marination is as essential as good chilli and it's heartening to see three types of chilli here at Chi Tai Bao; sweet & spicy, sour & spicy and spicy! Bet there will be one you like. 

Our table could barely hold all the food; eventually, we had to place our drinks on a separate chair so that there was sufficient space for our bowls. 

Meat Platter (Chi Meat Bao) - as mentioned previously,  four servings each of pork belly and chicken thighs with original, garlic, black pepper and mala marination, and pork meatballs, cheese tofu, crab stick, luncheon meat and chicken hotdogs.

Vegetable Platter (Chi Cai Bao) - with xiao bai cai, chinese cabbage, sweet corn, enoki mushroom, oyster mushroom, eggs and vermicelli. 

Our meaty add-ons; chicken thigh teriyaki, pork belly teriyaki, mini minced meat patties and and beef shortplate. Among all, the least recommended would be the underwhelming meat patties. 

Time to oil the grill with pork fat and load the food! 

Grilling and boiling in process; to ensure we don't confuse the meat, the decision was made to finish each marinated meat before we start with the next one. I am not particular with the vegetables though; if I were to have my way, it would be 95% meat with the rest allocated to eggs, and maybe noodles. 

Personally, I had the greatest affection for the mala which had its slight numbing spiciness kicking in after a few seconds! One man's meat is another one's poison as Alex absolutely detested the mala marination. Among the four marination, original (with sesame) was the most bland whereas garlic and black pepper were surprisingly delicious! 

In terms of chilli, my favourite had to be the sweet chilli and my love for it was so intense; I think I returned to the stall to top up at least three times! 

Another thing you can top up from the stall was the pork lard. Do you discard the pork lard from the grill once they shriveled to become a crispy bit? Not for me; my mouth would be their resting place. 

For the add-ons, teriyaki chicken / pork was expected to be great but they were just okay. Strong recommendation for the beef shortplate; well marinated with a sweet tinge and they were insanely juicy! A bit pricey for three slices. p.s. I have no idea what the acceptable market rate would be.

Ending the meal with noodles! For the perfect conclusion, the mama tom yum noodle is a must! Stupid me forgot to add in the key ingredient though; the tom yum powder! 

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In summary, my friends and I were 101% satisfied with the mookata at Chi Tai Bao; meat was of quality, vegetables were fresh, and pricing was reasonable, thanks to the promotion, at below S$40.00 for three of us! In fact, I had arranged to go again this weekend; hence the need to publish this review so that I can link up on my instagram. =P

Address

1 Woodlands Height, 

Koufu HQ Foodcourt,

Singapore 737859

Map

As above.

Operating Hours

5.00 pm to 11.00 pm

(Last Order - 9.30 pm)

Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/ChiTaiBaoMookata/

Pricing

Platter Promo - S$28.80

Pork Belly (Teriyaki) - S$1.90

Chicken Thigh (Teriyaki) - S$1.90

Beef Shortplate - S$3.90

Mini Minced Meat Patties - S$1.90

Mama Tomyum Noodle - S$1.00

(No Service Charge, No GST)

Additional Information

Special promotion on weekdays (Monday to Thursday) for students, nsf, nsmen and front-liners; a 20% discount off total bill.