[Media Invite] Sea and Blue @ Marina Bay Sands

Located at the space previously occupied by Todai, Sea & Blue offers an all-you-can-eat buffet with over 100 items. There's cold seafood counter, attractive mini sushis, thinly sliced sashimi, DIY counter for making your own bibimbap and cold noodles. Then, there's salad counter and cold cuts, grilled Korean BBQ counter and deep fried section to satisfy the need for ebi tempura and vegetable tempuras. The cooked food corner was well stocked with stir fried beef, scallops with sweet peas, sweet sour chicken, chili crabs, fried rice and more. Don't forget to visit the Italian corner for some pizza and cooked upon order pasta.

logo

The shop is at the opposite end of the celebrity restaurants. Made the mistake of walking towards the wrong direction and it'll take quite a while to walk back!

Nevertheless, be amazed by the vastness of space that the restaurant offers. Loved the neon blue wavy lights on the ceiling.

wavy lights

bibimbap and salad counter

Loved the cold mist at the salad counter. Like an open fridge. The leaves were crisp and fresh, and the cherry tomatoes were so good that I made myself a plate of these lovely stuffs. They were great to eat with the grilled beef shortribs from the Korean BBQ counter.

salad bar

cold seafood and sushi

At buffets, as usual, started off with cold seafood. The oysters are unshucked so you'll need to ask the staff to open it for you. No limits to the oyster that you can take. The sashimi were good too. Mussels can skip.

starter plate

of grilled meats and salads

cold cuts, smoked duck and japchae

For the cooked food, once the tray has been emptied out, they might rotate it to another dish. Didn't get a chance to eat the fish maw which Hence said was good, as it was replaced by stir fried beef. So sad.

The cooked food section was quite a gem. Liked the braised pork belly, scallops, sweet sour chicken and chicken soup.

braised pork belly

chili crab

The third plate was all about cooked food. The grilled scallops were better than the one with the sweet pea. Ebi tempura was nice as well. Try the sweet and sour pork. The black pepper beef was a letdown as it was too tough.

scallops!

favourite pasta

Don't forget the desserts. The strawberries were huge! You could also ask the staff to make a waffle for you.

chocolate coated strawberry

Thank you Sea & Blue for hosting the dinner and the good old folks at HGW for the invite.
Weekday dinner is $58++ while weekend dinner is $68++ per adult.

Sea & Blue

Address: 2 Bayfront Ave #B2-01/01A, Singapore 018972
Website: https://www.seanblue.com.sg/

[Media Invite] Fifth Season Tangra Chinese Restaurant @ 28 Race Course Road

It has been quite a while since I last visited Race Course Road. Last visit was mainly for naan's or curry fish head. However, little did I realise that there is an interesting place located there as well called Fifth Season Tangra Chinese Restaurant. An Indian restaurant serving up Chinese fare. Excited to try!

order via iPad

We started with soups; Hot n Sour Chicken Soup, Thukpa Chicken Soup and Manchow Chicken Soup. Portions are good for two to share. My favourite was the Hot n Sour Chicken Soup. Tasty and spicy.

Hot n Sour Chicken Soup @$9.80++

The Tibetan Thukpa Chicken Soup was tangy and refreshing with lots of vege while the Manchow Chicken Soup was comfortingly familar.

Tibetan Thukpa Chicken Soup @$9.80++

Manchow Chicken Soup @$9.80++

One of the items in the menu that caught my interest was the momo. Momo's are basically dumplings stuffed with either vegetables or minced chicken meat. One can have it deep fried or steamed.

Pan-fried Chicken Momo Spicy Plate (5 pcs) @$12++

Steamed Chicken Momo (5 pcs) @$10.90++

The spicy momo was tasty and the spice level was awakening but it doesn't linger. Liked the steamed momo more as it resembled a bit like a chicken xiao long bao.

The restaurant offers a wide range of sauces that will cater to most tastebuds. Go from  Parsley, Oyster, Mustard, Mild Garlic, Manchurian, Sweet Garlic, Sweet and Sour, Chili Soya, Hot Garlic and Szechwan.

Crispy Chili Baby Corn @$14.20++

Fish Kasundi @$16.90++

All the mains at Fifth Season are strongly flavoured and suitable to have it with rice. The Fish Kasundi has the pickled mustard sauce flavour and this was one taste that you either love it or leave it.

Coriander Chili Chicken @$15.20++

The dish that Purple Taste would recommend is the Corander Chili Chicken. The taste was just superb. Lovely flavours, and good juicy chicken texture. Couldn't get enough of this.

Corn Curd Balls in Pickled Szechwan (Semi Gravy) @$14.20++

The corn curd was interesting. It was almost like a corn tofu but firmer. Loved the fragrance of corn in this. The restaurant charges a dollar for each bottled water and they serve drinks like lassi, soft drinks and alcoholic beverages too. The mango lassi was good. Thick and sweet. So appetising!

Mango Lassi @$6.90++

Next up, let's have some carbs. Usually, one would order either a rice or noodles. At Fifth Season, you could have both in one order. For example, the Chow Chow Rice which is a mix of hakka noodles and fried rice with vegetables, egg and spiced with black pepper.

Chow Chow Rice @$13.10

Have you heard of American Chop Suey? It is vegetables in sweet and sour sauce, with a fried egg and topped with crispy muruku. Ecletic, yes.

American Chopsuey @$15.30++

Another favourite dish of mine that night, was the chili prawns. So good. Prawns were of a good size and firm. The sauce would go well with rice.

Chili Prawn Soya @$18.90++

The recommendation would be to come in a small group to try out perhaps just one or two sauces and the momos.

Of course, do try the dessert as the restaurant has some that are not so commonly found. A party of 5 pax could try about 3 to 4 desserts. Thankfully, the sweetness level was manageable.

Rossomalai @$8.90++

Mishti Doi @$6.90++

The Rossomalai is a type of Bengali dessert which has cottage cheese balls, in thickened flavoured milk and pistachio. The texture was a tad spongy and easy to eat. I adored the Mishti Doi, a dessert of caramelized yoghurt. The smooth yoghurt flavour served cold, was good. The last special dessert, baked Sondesh was seasonal and of limited edition. It was made of fresh cheese, dates, jaggery and has a grainy texture. Quite lovely and sweet without added sugar.

special dessert - baked Sondesh

The Fifth Season Tangra Chinese Restaurant has a seating capacity of about 70-pax and they are on major delivery platforms too. The peak timing for the restaurant during dinner is after 730pm.

Thank you Fifth Season for hosting the tasting and HGW for the invite.

[Media Invite] nALAn Restaurant @ Capitol Piazza

nALAn Restaurant is located at B2 of Capitol Piazza and serves purely vegetarian food. Its menu has the usual northern and southern Indian dishes, a sprinkle of Desi Chinese dishes and a few western-influenced items. The restaurant is spacious and could easily accommodate a cosy 2-pax party or larger groups of say 10 to 16 pax.

menu

interior

Have always wanted to try lassi, a popular drink that is  blend of yoghurt, water and spices. The adventurous one took the butter milk lassi (white), the semi-adventurous one took the badam milk lassi while the safe-ones chose mango lassi. The butter milk was watery, has cardamom in it and most sour amongst the three while mango lassi was the sweetest. Am most delighted with mango lassi!

butter milk @$3, badam milk @$5 and mango lassi @$5

For our meal, we started with western-styled cream of mushroom soup. The soup came with a rather peppery taste. So hold on to the pepper and salt shakers till you've tasted it.

cream of mushroom soup @$7

If you are in a group of say 6 to 8 pax, then you might want to order the Tandoori Platter for sharing. It was an interesting plate with an assortment of kebabs; paneer tikka, hara bara kebab, vegetable sheek kebab, button mushrooms and cauliflower. Loved the hara bara kebab which is essentially made of green vegetables such as spinach and peas. Crunchy flavours of onions on its outer batter and fragrance of green peas on its insides. Lovely.

Tandoori Platter @$25

there's vegetables in my kebab

The Daaba Salad was rather spicy and it contains mostly raw vegetables such as carrots, onions, and capsicum. Beware of the chopped bird's eye chilies in it.
 

Daaba Salad @$6

Gobi Manchurian @$13

My favourite was the Gobi Manchurian, an addictive dish of fried cauliflower where its sauteed with garlic, ginger, chilies, onions, capsicum, soy sauce and ketchup and decorated with chopped spring onions. Yummy.

Our main course consists of butter and garlic naans, chappati, rumali roti and kashmiri bread. The accompaniment were communal dining portions of aloo palak, dal makhani, mushroom mutter methi and kadai paneer.

main course

naan @$4.50 per piece

Dal Makhani @$11

Jeera (cumin) Rice @$8

Would like to recommend Jeera (cumin) rice with Mushroom Mutter Methi. These two should win an award for best partner/combination. The ingredients in the mushroom mutter methi are ginger, onions, corriander powder, turmeric, paprika, cayenne, black pepper, tomato puree, cardamom, black pepper, green peas, dried fenugreek leaves and coconut cream. The result was simply creamy tasty magic!

Mushroom Mutter Methi @$13

But best bread has to be Rumali Roti. How is it that I've not discovered this flatbread till now! If you unfold it, it is really a large large piece of thin (almost paper thin) dough. Non-oily and light to taste. Eat it with a pinch of this and that, and chew. The flavours were just so agreeable.

Rumali Roti @$4.50

For a healthier choice, then that'll be chappati. Made of ground whole wheat and contains complex carbs and low in fat content.

For dessert, one could end with the sweet Kashmiri Naan. This flatbread has cashews, badam and glazed cherries.

Kashmiri Naan @$7.70

Otherwise, one could opt for the traditional Indian desserts of gulab jamun and carrot halwa. Do note that these are very very sweet! Take small small bites and savour. The carrot halwa has a strong milky aroma and garnished with pistachio.

Gulab Jamun @$4.50

Carrot Halwa गाजर का हलवा @$5.50

Thank you HGW for the invite and nALAn Restaurant for hosting the dinner. It was fun learning the names of the dishes and its ingredients.

[Media Invite] Beyond Pancakes @ Marina Square Mall

Pannenkoek? Galettes? Now you have can them all at Beyond Pancakes. This halal-certified casual eatery is located at Level 3 of Marina Square Mall, serves a variety of European influenced pancakes, burgers and pastas.

menu

As usual, we went with the Chef's recommendation. For hors d'oeuvre, we had the Nachos Set. Yes, that's French for appetizer. The nachos were actually toasted crispy crepe which was served warm and crispy, then loaded with mozarella cheese, avocado strips, onions, olives, jalapenos and topped with a beautiful sunny side up. For the set, it was served with cheese sauce, spring onion dip and cheesy sundried tomato dip. The spring onion dip was refreshing but my favourite was the cheesy sundried tomato dip.

Nachos Set @$10.90

If you are ordering the Nachos Set, I do urge you to eat it as soon as it arrived. So good to have warm crispy crepe scooping up those yummy dips which quickly made their exit into our stomachs.

Next, we had the Chicken Bolognaise from the pasta section. Served with moderate amount of sauce and it sprinkled with parmesan cheese and fresh herbs. The noodles strands were soft. The flavours were mild.

Chicken Bolognaise @$13.90

Saumon Fume Galette @$14.90

Was pleasantly surprised by the presentation of the smoked salmon galette. Thin thin layer of French crepe made of wheat, had edges so crisps that it fell off as soon as our finger tips gave it the tiniest of a nudge, which was lined with pesto sauce and topped with avocado, smoked salmon and a sunny side up.

We ate it the way Europeans would usually have it, which was to break the yolk, smear it around before rolling up the pancake. I liked it! The flavours were balanced and the rolled salmon, avocado and pesto mix with the thin galette skin was a big hit amongst the group.

For most of us, we are more familiar with the American styled pancakes. Round, soft and fluffy, and usually sweet. At Beyond Pancakes, there are savoury pancakes to choose and we had Le Poulet.

Le Poulet @$12.90

Butter in semi-melting state and spring onion mushrooms on my pancakes? Yes, please! The taste of the pancake was mildly sweet and the combination of grilled chicken strips, capsicum, onions and cherry tomatoes on the side would make this dish slightly more substantial.

Having a meal at Beyond Pancake was like taking a pancake journey to around European continent.  Pannenkoek was our next dish, and this is a Dutch-style pancake. Thin crepe, almost like a more hardy popiah-skin and topped with sliced chicken, black pepper sausages, turkey bacon, onions, capsicum, olives, and mozarella cheese.

De Kip @$13.90

No one resists desserts, right? Neither did we. This is for the sweet-toothed ones. The plate that we had was a special order of singular pancakes for tasting. Usual order would be Short (2 pieces), Medium (4 pieces) and Tall (6 pieces). Price ranges from $5.90 to $10.90 for Short.

(front counter clockwise) strawberry cream cheese, plain, chocolate chip and blueberry

Cheesy Nutella Roll @$14.90

The Cheesy Nutella Roll was basically Pannenkoek rolled with cream cheese, nutella, choco biscuit crumbs, served with vanilla ice-cream and peaches. The sweetness level was just right. Most of us were happy with just the original and the chocolate chip pancakes with butter and maple syrup.

My favourites were the Saumon Fume Pannenkoek, Le Poulet and the chocolate chip pancake.

Good halal option for pancakes.