Maison Kayser @ Wheelock Place

Maison Kayser Artisan Boulanger (Score: 3.5 out of 5)

Maison Kayser is our coffee place of the week this week. They have several outlets in the Orchard area (Scotts Square, near Tanglin Shopping Center, Wheelock Place, and Turf Club). We visited the branch in Wheelock Place.

Our Orders

Tarte/eclair and coffee/tea combination - Tarte was Pear and Chocolate Hazelnut

Salmon Quiche

Eclaire and Coffee Combination - Eclaire was Cafe Flavor

 Kayser's Freshly baked bread

If someone asks me to define what appetizing is, I will say try to imagine what freshly baked bread smells like and that would be the best definition of what appetizing would be. Maison Kayser does appetizing justice as the smell and taste of their bread doesn't disappoint. Two notable breads that I have previously ordered here was the Delice Blanc and Curcumin.

As for the tart/eclair and coffee/tea combo, my one word would be... meh... so so lah... ok that's not one word but you get the picture. The eclair was quite good though but I would expect more from a world renowned bakery such as MK. The tart was disappointing as it was hard, dry, and not too tasty. Now the rose and lavender tea though was the saving grace of that combo as that hit the right spots for me in terms of tea. 

Price and Value

The set meals are reasonably priced at 7 (tart/eclair and coffee/tea combo). Some boulangerie/deli like Dean and Delucca or Jones the Grocer will charge you 7 bucks for coffee only. But the ala carte price will probably set you back at around 15-20 SGD per person. As for the bread, I'd think that some people will have issues coughing up 3-5 SGD for a piece of bread and if this ain't your cup of tea then I'd look for some other interesting bakeries for you.

Rating:

Food - 3.5

Ambiance - 3.5

Value - 3

Service - 3.5

Overall 3.5 of 5

Repeat Factor (No!! No! Yes Yes! Yes!!): 

Yes

Restaurant details:

Official Website: http://www.maison-kayser.com/en/
Address:

Scotts Square #B1-09, 6 Scotts Road, 228209

Wheelock Place #B2-01, 501 Orchard Road 238880

The Grandstand #01-11, 200 Turf Club Road, 287994
Tel no: +65 6636 3672

Jing Hua Restaurant

Jing Hua Restaurant (Score: 3.5 out of 5)

Jing Hua Restaurant is a simple Chinese Restaurant that serves one of the better Xiao Long Bao restaurants near the CBD area. It's located at Neil Road just before Kreta Ayer St.and is quite difficult to find during the first time visit. But if you are walking in that area, look for a Chinese restaurant with bright red tables.

The Menu

The menu of Jing Hua is very simple. The photos above makes up everything that they serve.

Our Orders

Spinach with Oyster Sauce

Mixed Seafood, Pork Dumplings (Boiled)

Noodle with minced pork and soy bean paste

Chinese Pizza

Mixed Seafood, Pork Dumplings (Pan-Fried)

Xiao Long Bao

Red Bean Paste Pancake

Osmanthus Flavoured Glutinous Rice Balls (Mixed Flavor)

Osmanthus Flavoured Glutinous Rice Balls (With filling shown)

The best dish that they have is a toss between the Xiao Long Bao and the Red Bean Paste Pancake. And when you order their food (Chinese Pizza, Steamed Dumplings, Pan-Fried Dumplings), the feeling you will have is that everything has the same filling. The difference is only in the way it was prepared. 

But everything we ordered here did taste good. If we there were only 2 of us, I'd definitely order the XLB, the noodles, and the Chinese Pizza. As for the dessert, the Red Bean Paste Pancake was my favorite in this visit. I liked the fact the pancake was soft and warm at the same time. I'm not a very big fan of red bean but this dessert is something that I'll order and order again.

Special mention to Allan Pineda who introduced us to this place and was the one holding the chopstick for the Red Bean Paste Pancake.

Price and Value

All-in-all the bill amounted to just around SGD 85. Not cheap but for 5 people its not too bad as well. Its also surprisingly filling so really not bad.

Rating:

Food - 3.5

Ambiance - 3

Value - 3.5

Service - 3.5

Overall 3.5 of 5

Repeat Factor (No!! No! Yes Yes! Yes!!): 

Yes

Restaurant details:

Official Website: http://jinghua.sg/

Address: 21/23 Neil Road, Singapore 088814
Tel no: +65 6221 3060

Tonkatsu Ma Maison

Tonkatsu Ma Maison (Score: 4 out of 5)

Tonkatsu Ma Maison is a Japanese tonkatsu restaurant located inside Mandarin Gallery. I have seen this place before already but this is my first visit where I actually tried their food. Everytime that we did pass this place, there was a queue and I always say "Man that's a PRAWN!"

Note: I will be mentioning Tonkitchi several times. Tonkichi is another tonkatsu based Japanese restaurant that is famous here in Singapore. I'll review it next time.

The Menu

The menu of Tonkatsu Ma Maison is quite simple. Actually I think they do lack some options for appetizers or items like chawanmushi but nevertheless, I'm a believer of simple menus as it presents a notion that the restaurant specializes on certain items only. 

That was very true for this resto. They specialize in tonkatsu and the giant prawn is just an extra. No ramen, no sushi, no bbq, just deep fried tonkatsu, prawns, and oysters). I don't even think they have chicken dishes.

Our Orders

Cheese Mille-Feuille Katsu Set (Deep-fried Multi-layered Sliced Pork Cutlet with Cheese)

DX Mameton Set (Deep fried prawn, pork loin, and pork fillet)

Before starting with the meal, you do get a choice of "sauces":

1. Regular tonkatsu sauce with sesame seed (similar to Tonkitchi)
2. Spicy tonkatsu sauce with sesame seed
3. Sesame sauce 

There is also mustard served along in the plate plus the prawn had a special "tartar" like dip.

So Lynn ordered the mille-feuille with cheese and I of course ordered the prawn and pork combination. She also had brown rice which is an available option for all sets. The drink, rice, and salad are refillable.

I wanted to order the 2 piece prawn but felt it was just too much at almost SGD 40. And anyway the aim was just to taste it.

The prawn is just heavenly. It's crunchy, flavorful, fresh, non-oily, and meaty. Though comparing this with tempura is unfair but its just a no contest. I'll have this any day over any ebi tempura that I've had so far. 

As for the pork. Lynn and I think that it's a tad better than Tonkichi. I think it has a distinct taste that is different and just a tad bit juicier as well. Also, the pork with cheese is a lot better than the normal pork disk that I had.

Next time I will try the Iberico Pork Katsu or Mangalica Tonkatsu.

Price and Value

All-in-all the bill amounted to SGD 71.00 which I think was worth it. I think we could have just ordered one dish and shared and probably just order extra rice or an ala carte order of something else. SGD 30++ seems to be the norm now for most good restaurants in singapore. I also think that although we had 2 orders, we could have probably shared the food still with another friend.

Rating:

Food - 4

Ambiance - 4

Value - 3.5

Service - 4

Overall 4 of 5

Repeat Factor (No!! No! Yes Yes! Yes!!): 

Yes!

Restaurant details:
Official Website: n/a
Address: 333A Orchard Road, #02-35/36 Mandarin Gallery
Tel no: +65 6733 4541

The Marmalade Pantry

The Marmalade Pantry (Score: 3.5 out of 5)

For our Sunday coffee fix, we decided to go to Marmalade Pantry in Ion Orchard. We have visited this cafe several times already and the next time we will probably be trying the brunch items and main menu. But for today, its just a snack and coffee.

The Snack

Sticky Date and Toffee Pudding

This is a must try. The contrast of the warm pudding and the cold vanilla ice cream is just really nice. The pudding itself was very good even without the ice cream of the the toffee but it just becomes an unbeatable trio together.

The Coffee

Flat white and Creme Caramel Caffe Latte. 

The coffee in Marmalade Pantry is always good. Not the best but I do like it none the less. 

Price and Value

All-in-all the bill amounted to SGD 32.00. This is on a high side simply because of the pudding. That alone cost SGD 14.00 (so almost half of the bill).

Rating:

Food - 4

Ambiance - 4

Value - 3

Service - 3.5

Overall 3.5 of 5

Repeat Factor (No!! No! Yes Yes! Yes!!): 

Yes!

Restaurant details:
Official Website: http://themarmaladepantry.com.sg
Address: Unit 03-22 ION Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn, Singapore 238801
Tel no: +65 6734 2700

The Magic of Chongqing

The Magic of Chongqing (Score: 3.5 out of 5)

Today, Lynn and I wanted to do some good "healthy" steamboat yumminess. We saw The Magic of Chongqing as one of the 52 best buffets here in Singapore (52 Best Buffet in Singapore). So does it live up to the hype?

The first impression here is not so good. Tanglin Shopping Center just doesn't look old, it smells it as well. But good food cannot be deterred by looks alone, The Magic of Chongqing uses this ambiance quite well and fits the place like a hand with a perfect glove.

The Menu

Not a bad selection for a steamboat buffet. I had my eyes on the fish paste and prawns. There is a separate menu for dinner with more items but to be honest nothing did popped out to make me want to go for dinner service.

Our Orders:

(Fresh Prawns, Beef Balls, Beef Slices, Luncheon Meat, Taro, Sliced Seaweeds)

(Tao Kee, Shrimp Wanton, Vermicelli, Water Crest, Chicken with Mushroon Balls)

(The famous Fish Paste. We had 12 of these.)

Our combination soup: Ma-la Tang and Faithful Chicken Broth

I wont be explaining much on the steamboat items except for the prawns, fish paste and the soup. The prawns were surprisingly fresh. We only had 2 orders (4pcs in total) but that was more than enough for the two of us. Our neighbor I think had 30 pcs in total :). Fresh prawns = happy customers.

The fish paste was definitely handmade. I'd be surprised if someone said otherwise. The ala carte price for this is SGD 6.00 per plate. 

The chicken soup was tasty but nothing special. We should have tried the preserved sour vegetable in chicken broth instead. The ma-la tang soup though was very rich and I personally liked it. You can order this in 3 strengths: Mild, Standard, and Extra Spicy. The picture may look like its the extra spicy but in fact its just the mild (and this was already quite spicy for us).  Consider yourselves warned.

Our soup base with everything on it.

Fried bread roll, Egg coated glutinous square "Tikoy", Water chestnut jelly

Each person in the buffet, are given a single order of the following: Xiao long bao, meat and chives dumplings, and the dessert items (Fried bread roll, Egg coated glutinous square "Tikoy", Water chestnut jelly). The only item worth mentioning here is the Fried bread roll. If I had a choice, I'd trade the xiao long bao and dumplings and the two other desserts with a few more fried rolls. 

Price and Value

All-in-all the bill amounted to SGD 65.70. We should have passed on the "peas" in the table = SGD 3.00 and the 2 Sprites = SGD 5.00 but all in all no regrets. We had a good, hearty, and filling steamboat buffet which was the goal for today.

Rating:

Food - 3.5

Ambiance - 3

Value - 3.5

Service - 4

Overall 3.5 of 5

Repeat Factor (No!! No! Yes Yes! Yes!!): 

Yes! Definitely a good steamboat deal.

Restaurant details:

Official Website: http://www.chinesefeasts.com.sg/

Address: 19 Tanglin Road, #04-06/07 Tanglin Shopping Centre, Singapore 247909 

Tel no: +65 6734 9789
Reservation Required.

4 & a Half Mistake (oops Gourmand)

4 & a Half Gourmand (Score: 1 out of 5)

Before anything else, I just want everyone to know that at one point I told myself that I will not buy anymore "coupon" type of deals from restaurants due to really bad experiences. This my friends is the last time I will ever buy one (not unless it will be from a reputable establishment).

My experience today with 4 and a Half Gourmand is horrible. The only good thing about it is.... none. Bad service, bad food, (of course ambiance and value goes down the drain as well), bad, bad, bad. 

I made a reservation last week. When I got there, no one greeted us to help us sit down. One of the two waiters offered to sit us in a "hotel sofa" type of table and I passed. So we squeezed in between a family of 4 and a family of 3. They were definitely not expecting us. 

The restaurant has good tables to accomodate about 20 people. Plus 2 lounge tables. This is not the place to have 30 people for a "buffet" tapas + pasta + pizza. We were quite "lucky" because we were able to sit on time. I can't say the same thing to the 3 or 4 other groups that came after us. 

What doesn't help this place is that people were already complaining. The guest in front of us. The guest behind us. The guest waiting in the corner. 

To add insult to the injury. The voucher was SGD 17 and you are forced to buy 2 so I had to fork out SGD 34. Worse yet, they don't serve water. You have to buy it. I really really think that restaurants who don't serve water for free are $*it and this place had no excuse whatsoever. So I had to fork out another SGD 10 for drinks (3 softdrinks).

The "Menu"

Yes... this was the menu that we were using. If I can go back, I will actually ask that rude waiter why there was a print of "old" in our menu.

The "Main Dishes" can only order once:

From bottom left to top: (Breaded Mushroom Tempura, Quail Egg Wanton, Grilled mushrooms, Fried Garlic Shrimp, Kick-Ass Buffalo Wings). I'm sorry folks, if it looks like that we had some already before the picture was taken that is not the case. This is how it looked like when they served it to us. These are the main orders (except for the grilled mushroom) which means 1 table 1 couple 1 order. Fine nothing special I will never order it again.

Pasta Negra

If someone serves you pasta that have their ends lumped together, what does it mean? Yes, this pasta was served like that so I doubt that even this was freshly done. And raw onions? Who serves raw sliced onions with pasta nowadays... or ever...???

Vietnamese Chicken Wing

This was the only "good" thing that we had but we prepare our chicken wings at home a lot better than this. I think I only want to say its good so that the 40 bucks that I paid isn't so painful.

Pizza & Mushroom Soup

Sorry no pictures here but to explain it pizza = small boxed frozen pizza, soup = campbells (and we prepare ours at home better too)

Price and Value

All-in-all the bill amounted to SGD 44. I will stop here. The place sucked big time. The waiter sucked big time. The food sucked BIG time. Please please please do not even think of going to this place. Better go to the Bah kuh teh around the corner and be happy.

Rating:

Food - 1

Ambiance - 1

Value - 1

Service - 1

Overall 1 of 5

Repeat Factor (No!! No! Yes Yes! Yes!!): 

No!! Don't even think about it.

Restaurant details:

Official Website: none

Address: 20 Hong Kong Street, #01-03

Tel no: +65 9487 9686

Valentines @ CUT

CUT (Score: 4 out of 5)

We have always been passing-by this restaurant in MBS and was always wondering why no one ate here. Lo and behold they do not have lunch service (that was why it always looked empty cause we never saw it during dinner service).

So now down to our Valentines date @ CUT. The restaurant is not very bright and I will apologize now for some of the pics as they are not very good. We have made reservations just a day before and was glad that we did because the place was packed. (Note this was also our Chinese New Year celebration).

Prime Sirloin “Steak Tartare”, Herb Aioli, Mustard - SGD 28.00

I like eating steak tartare and this was quite good. It just had the right amount of heat in it and was seasoned to my liking. I didn't have to add salt or pepper anymore. Unfortunately, the tartare was nothing special. 

Bread - Free

Normally, I don't think people will put free bread on a review but I'm a sucker for good bread. I'd actually go back here just to have the free bread again. I think I had 3 or 4 servings. Trust me its that good. If CUT decided to open a patisserie/bakery they will have a queue. 

Puff Cheese Pastry - SGD 10++

The first serving was actually free but again like the bread they placed some magic powder on this puff cheese pastry that made us ask for more. Unfortunately it wasn't free like the bread. But that's fine cause it was really good too.

Creamed Spinach with Fried Egg - SGD 18.00

You will know whenever someone is having this dish in CUT. You will here a "clink clink clink" sound as the servers mix the egg with the creamed spinach. The result: One amazing side dish that really matched our steak. This is actually Lynn's choice of must eat's in CUT.

Potato Tart Tatin - SGD 24.00

I haven't had a serving of tart tatin for quite a long time already so wanted to give this a try. Unfortunately this was not very good and for 24 bucks I would have rather eaten another portion of the free bread. The taste was ok but the potato was not cooked through which is weird coming from a prestigious restaurant such as CUT.  

Australian Angus, 300+ Days Grain Fed, Rangers Valley, Aged 35 Days

(Bone In Rib Eye Steak 570g) - SGD 105.00

Lynn and I shared our order of steak, which was a good idea. The portion was just right to share. The meat itself was very good and cooked right (we like our steak served medium). Another good choice that we did was not to order the sauce as the steak itself was tasty already. 

So how was the steak? I'd say very good but nothing special. It doesn't have the effect of eating a good wagyu beef that melts in your mouth when you eat it. 

Would I order this again? Lets talk next year when a special occasion comes up. SGD 100 for any food is quite difficult to swallow.

Chocolate Souffle (SGD 24.00) and Coffee (SGD 16.00)

The chocolate souffle was very good as well. At this point though we were quite full already so I was not able to appreciate it that much any more. 

Price and Value

All-in-all the bill amounted to SGD 300 including GST and service charges. On hind site, I think it would have been better for us to order 2 mains (1 steak and a lamp chop?) rather than adding up all the small things we ordered but no regrets as well.

The pastry chef should be praised. If he/she decides to leave CUT and opens up his/her own thing I'm sure it will click. I still can't believe that I'm raving about the bread at a Steak place. I know I shouldn't but well it is really that good.

The steak in a steak house should be the main star unfortunately this was not the case here.

Rating:

Food - 4 of 5

Ambiance - 4 of 5

Value - 3 of 5

Service - 4.5 of 5

Overall 4 of 5

Repeat Factor (No!! No! Yes Yes! Yes!!): 

Yes! (only if I can afford it again)

Restaurant details:

Official Website: http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/restaurants/fine-dining/61447

Address: Marina Bay Sands Hotel Singapore, 10 Bayfront Avenue

Tel no: 10 Bayfront Avenue

Tambuah Mas

Tambuah Mas (Score: 3.5 out of 5)

First post for Lynn and Victor's Food Haven and hope that people appreciate it.

Today's lunch brought us to the posh Singaporean Mall - Paragon. Lunch though was not posh at all but of course people will always have their own opinion on what expensive is and what is not. So lets start.

Tambuah Mas is currently one of the highly rated Indonesian restaurants in Singapore (according to TripAdvisor). So we headed down to Paragon to have our fix of Indonesian cuisine and see if this was worth the trip or not.

We arrived just before 12 noon and the place was quite empty (I think we were table 5). This did raise a small concern cause normally very good restaurants in Singapore would have long lines in them regardless of day and time (just take a peek at Din Tai Fung which is Tambuah Mas' neighbor in Paragon).

The menu was well organized. 4-5 pages and all are with their original Indonesian name but each described very well in English. We ordered 4 dishes: Rendang Lembu (Beef Rendang), Sop Buntut (Ox-tail Soup), Kepala Ikan Istimewa (Fish head with Asam Sauce), and Es Apokat (Avocado Shake).

Rendang Lembu (Beef Rendang) - SGD 8.50

The beef rendang was cooked really well. It had the sweet, salty, and spicy taste of what a good rendang should taste like. The beef itself was tender. I have little to no complaints on the beef rendang. I would think that there would be people who would criticize this to be not spicy but I hope you can order this to be extra spicy.

Sop Buntut (Ox-tail Soup) - SGD 6.00

The ox-tail soup was also very good. The soup was very rich but it didn't leave a heavy oily taste that you would expect when you see it. There was a nice garlic and onion taste which made the soup really easy to eat.

Kepala Ikan Istimewa (Fish head with Asam Sauce) - SGD 27.00

At first glance, I was disappointed with the fish head dish. I was expecting like a fish head curry dish which is quite normal here in Singapore. What arrived was (at least visually) a watered down version of a fish head curry soup. That is where the disappointment stopped. The dish was very well prepared as well. The sauce just had the right touch of spice and the fish head meat was firm and flaky (sign of a good fresh fish). The eggplant and ladyfingers (ocra) was also a good match for this dish. I've never had this before so no points of comparison.

Es Apokat (Avocado Shake) - SGD 5.50

The avocado shake was nothing special though. It had chocolate at the bottom and some drizzle on top but that made it just too sweet to my liking (Although wifey did enjoy this a lot). 

Price and Value

All-in-all the bill amounted to SGD 60.50 including GST and service charges. We should have passed on the appetizer (some kropek style munchies worth SGD 2.00). The plain rice is SGD 1.20 per cup (if you order one for each person  in the table it becomes eat-all-you can so not bad). 

Half of the bill was because of the fish head dish. Was it worth it... no, will I order it again, not on my next visit. I will order either the beef rendang or the ox-tail though on my next visit as I really think those were worth it. Just between wifey and me, we were actually full already even if the fish dish was not there. So in theory we could have walked away from the restaurant full and satisfied with just SGD 30 for both already.

So I'd still say that this was good value. The food was very good and the staff and even manager was very attentive and friendly. 

Rating:

Food - 4 of 5

Ambiance - 3 of 5

Value - 3 of 5

Service - 3.5 of 5

Overall 3.5 of 5

Repeat Factor (No!! No! Yes Yes! Yes!!): 

Yes!

Restaurant details:

Official Website: http://tambuahmas.com.sg/

Address: 290 Orchard Rd (Paragon Mall) #B1-44, Singapore 238859

Tel no: +65 6733 2220