Sho Teppan @ ION Orchard

Located at B3 of ION Orchard, this place was not crowded during weekday lunch hour. There was a 1-for-1 main course promotion for AMEX, so we took advantage of that.

counter where staff cooked teppanyaki and/or made lemon tea

sauces for sukiyaki and teppanyaki

pictures of diners adorning this part of the wall

We were seated at the far end of the shop, and they gave us the booth seat. Nice. We had a view of the kitchen counter top. I think they were making lemon tea in that steel pot. Spied that they took out many many bags of tea from that pot before adding loads of sugar into it.

The main dishes here are either hotpot (sukiyaki/shabu shabu) and teppanyaki. For teppanyaki, you can opt to have the staff cook the meat for you or DIY. We ordered the wagyu beef shabu shabu and wagyu beef teppanyaki (DIY). That's the most extravagant main course at $21.90++. They have kurobuta pork, chicken, scallop and seafood as well with prices ranging from $15++ onwards.

Most of the sets come with rice and salad, while the teppanyaki will get a bowl of miso soup as well. The hotpot and teppanyaki are cooked via induction cooker at your tabletop.

hotpot

teppanyaki

The hotpot has the usual vegetables, golden mushroom, tofu, one shitake mushroom and negligible amount of japanese tang hoon. The teppanyaki has loads of onions and sliced shitake mushroom with julienned carrots.

salad

teppanyaki sauce, use the wooden ladle to move the meat around in the pan

The teppanyaki beef was slightly overcooked because the meat was still left in the pan after the heat was turned off.

wagyu teppanyaki

beef with onions and mushroom, on rice

The service staff forgot to bring the meat for the shabu shabu until we reminded them to do so.

wagyu beef, with not so much marbling

pick up a slice of meat, hold it using chopstick, then immerse it into the boiling soup while saying, "Shabu...shabu...." repeat about 3 times

The shabu shabu'ed meat was much more tender because I took it out just when it was about to turn from pink to cooked. However, the sukiyaki sauce was slightly too salty for my liking. Preferred the teppanyaki sauce plus the sesame sauce that came together with the shabu shabu set.

We paid $19 (inclusive of taxes and a drink) per pax.

Tea Lounge @ The Regent Hotel

Located at the Regent Hotel at Cuscaden Road. If you are walking from Orchard MRT, head towards Wheelock and then towards Hilton Hotel until you come towards a small road at the Forum. I was a bit lost there, so I asked the security uncle the location of Regent Hotel. He said alot of people had asked him the same question. Hahaa!

the back of Regent Hotel, if you're walking from Forum

hotel lobby

Tea Lounge reception

our table

On weekdays 12-5pm, they have the English Afternoon Tea set @$36++ per pax. Can choose 2 drinks; for example free flow of coffee and one flavour of tea, or two flavors of tea with refillable hot water. There are about 12 selections of tea flavours to choose from. If you are not into coffee nor tea, then there is the last option of chocolate (hot/cold) drink.

menu

teacup with strainer

tea room blend

Tried the tea room blend and afternoon darjeeling. These flavours sits well with conservative tea drinker like me. Not too exotic. There is one really smoky flavoured leaves from China with name that is too funky for me to remember! The rose flavoured was really fragrant and nice too.

coffee

sugar cubes

We sipped tea and chit-chatted while waited for the finger sandwiches.

finger sandwiches

roast beef horseradish sandwich (right)

roast beef

The roast beef finger sandwich has a certain pungent smell to it (probably from horseradish?). An acquired taste.

guessed this is the free range chicken on brioche?

smoked salmon on sunflower bread

organic egg mayo

is this the McLelland smoked cheddar cheese on the right?

The best tasting finger sandwich, I felt was the brown colored bread (soft) with cheese (McLelland smoked cheddar?). Nice and yummy. All in all, the finger sandwiches were quite 'dry'. And looks can be deceptive. After that plate of petite looking finger sandwiches, I felt the tummy filling up fast, especially when combined with two cups of hot tea.

After the finger sandwiches, out came the 3-tiered pastries. It was really pretty to look at. Somehow it lends to the atmosphere of a 'proper' English afternoon tea.

3-tiered pastries

First tier, was the scones. Plain and raisin scones. Scones with jam, lemon curd and clotted cream. The best combination ever!

scones

clotted cream

lemon curd

strawberry preserve

yummy!

Devonshire clotted cream (should be quite high in fats content!) gave the scones a smooth and creamy bite while the strawberry preserve or lemon curd added a touch of sweetness to the buttery coarseness.

a bite of scone, a sip of tea

Second tier was the savouries. By now, the pace is definitely slowing down.

savouries

crispy pastry (cheese straw)

sausage pastry

pie

mushroom spinach quiche

cross section of quiche

I liked the pie on this savoury plate, while most of the people in the group preferred the quiche. After having our fill on the savouries, we were all quite stuffed. Before starting on the sweets, we had our pot of tea changed to a different flavour.

sweets

am quite tickled by this dessert, looks like a smiley face with sunglasses

sour alert!

is that a flower petal?

nice mousse like dessert with berry

chocolate truffle

madeleine (didn't like this, as it didn't taste fresh)

raspberry coconut delice

The service crew were friendly and obliged with hot water refills, more clotted cream and preserves. We spent a leisurely two hours or so at the lounge. An indulgence indeed.

We paid $34 per pax as there was a UOB credit card promotion.

Hua Nam Restaurant @ Upper Thomson Road

Located at 244F Upper Thomson Road, this coffeeshop can be seen by the main road. Along the same stretch, there are other shops selling prata, porridge, noodles etc.

It feels old school and I don't mean the modernised old school vibe. The shop has probably been around for many many years.

inside the coffeeshop

old school tiles

This coffeeshop sells zhi char, roasted meats, fish/chicken porridge and dim sum. My friend wanted to eat the dim sum, so we ordered that.

dim sum

To order dim sum, just go up to the front of the shop where you see trays of dim sum, and let the young chap or uncle know which type you want. They'll steam it up and send it to your table. We ordered har gao, siew mai, lor mai kai, xiao long bao, pork ribs, chee cheong fun and beancurd roll with minced meat and waterchestnut.

pickled vege and chili sauce

har gao

lor mai kai

siew mai

The har gao was tiny and prawns is definitely not this coffeeshop's forte. My friend says that har gao is his benchmark for any dim sum joint. So, it was disappointment at first bite. The lor mai kai tasted as it looked. Uninspiring. The siew mai looked alright and it tasted like those factory produced version minus the strong peppery taste commonly found in those mass manufactured products.

chee cheong fun

The chee cheong fun here looked a little unusual. The skin was thick and it was stuffed with minced meat, and its sauce was at the bottom of the tiny saucer. Not unlikeable, just unusual.

waiter, there's minced meat in my cheong fun!

We had a laugh when we picked up the xiao long bao to eat. They used cut carrot as a base for the xiao long bao to prevent its bottom from sticking.

carrot base for the xiao long bao

In my opinion, the xiao long bao here tasted strangely like da bao (big bao) with soggy skin. I would avoid this at all cost.

If there is one dim sum that you must order, make it the steamed pork ribs. Served piping hot, its meat was tender, juicy and tasty. Flavourful and not too much bones.

steamed pork ribs

this was how it all looked like after a bite or two

The chili sauce here tasted like a watered down version, and not spicy. We had about 8 plates of items plus 3 iced barley. The total meal costs about $22 for 3 pax.