[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.

[Media Invite] Crab Corner and Heavenly Duck House 蟹天王 @ 1 Joo Koon Circle

Good news is that Crab Corner is directly accessible by Joo Koon MRT station. The not so good is only applicable for those staying far from Joo Koon! Crab Corner is located at Level 3, same level as the food court and NTUC. The restaurant is huge! At one glance, you'll see roasted meats on display and tanks of live seafood. Helmed by Chef Lau from Hong Kong, expects good roasts and tasty flavours.

cutting up delicious roasts

The place is suitable for large groups or cosy individuals. For example, one could order the roasted meat rice/noodle/congee starting from $7.80. Seemed like any cha chaan teng (茶餐厅) prices. The roasted meat here is indeed good, especially the fei po char siew (肥婆叉烧) or barbeque pork belly. Wah, those black caramelized char...so yums! The roasted pork in comparison was nice and mild. The skin was crackling and the meat was surprisingly quite lean.

barbeque pork belly (肥婆叉烧) @$18

roast pork (脆皮烧肉) @$11.80

crispy roast duck (脆皮天王烧鸭) @$16

soy sauce chicken (酱油鸡) @$12

Ah, you wouldn't have expected dim sum from a place that serves crabs, right? At least, I didn't. Not a lot of variety here but the siew mai with tobiko was nice and plump. The char siew bao sauce was somewhat different and tasty.

char siew bao (@$4.60), har gao and siew mai @$5.20 each

bursting at its seams

tasty char siew bao

If you are in a larger group, then there are zhichar dishes for communal dining as well. In general, the roasted meats at Crab Corner are pretty good. Their signature dishes of chili crab and black pepper crabs were enjoyable. Chunky sweet firm flesh and tasty sauce. So shioks! The curry fish head was very eatable with a bowl of steamed rice.

Black Pepper Crab (market price)

Chili Crab (market price)

Curry Fish Head

The spice in the curry fish head and the crabs were just nice. It has some kick but you wouldn't feel overwhelmed. Otherwise, order up a Purple Lover to cool the fire. Fancy sounding but essentially sprite with grape.

Purple Lover (情人雪) @$3.80

The restaurant is spacious and if you need privacy, they do have private room as well. At this place, we could order crabs and seafood dishes as well as favourite dim sum, roasted meats rice/noodle/congee and my favourite order of Hong Kong food, beef brisket.

feast for 8 pax

Thank you Priscilla, Hungrygowhere for the invite and Crab Corner for hosting the tasting.

Crab Corner and Heavenly Duck House 蟹天王

Location: 1 Joo Koon Circle #03-26, 629116
Website: www.crabcorner.com.sg
Contact: 6333 6969 
Business Hours:
Daily: 11:00 - 22:00

 

[Media Invite] The Wicked Garlic @ Cineleisure Orchard

The Wicked Garlic is a casual eatery that serves pizza, pasta and risotto, which is predominantly Italian fare with the occasional fusion. It has 3 outlets and we visited the one at Cineleisure Orchard level 5. Yes, the same level as the cinema.

wicked lemon tea, mango juice and pineapple juice @$4.50 each

For smoked salmon lovers out there, you would like the Salmon Affumicato. The quantity of smoked salmon on the pizza would make you smile.

Salmon Affumicato @$19

Meat lovers? Not a problem. There is indeed such a pizza topped with spicy Italian sausages, bacon and minced beef topped with mozarella cheese. The staff would recommend prawn pizza. It is unusual to see such large prawns as pizza topping.

Meat Lovers Pizza @$21

Grilled Prawn Pizza @$24

My favourite pizza? The deceptively plain looking crab pizza or Granchio e pepe. Simple and sweet.

Granchio e Pepe @$15

For pastas, we tried the tomato-based spaghetti marinara, the aglio olio with king-sized prawns and penne al granchio. Again, the tomatoes that day was super sweet hence, the spaghetti marinara done in parched paper and the penne al granchio (crab penne) inherited the sweetness in its sauce. My favourite was the aglio olio for that slight heat from pepper.

Spaghetti Marinara alla Cartoccio @$19

Spaghetti Aglio Olio e Acciughe with additional King-sized Prawns @$14

Penne al Granchio @$13

If you are super hungry and must have rice, do try the Curry Prawn Risotto. Yes, The Wicked Garlic seem to have many items with prawns!

Curry Prawn Risotto @$23

What I liked about the curry prawn risotto was that it didn't shy away from the curry spices. Instead, it was embraced with open-arms, and in this case, the arborio rice had been so well cooked and infused with the curry flavour that every scoop was an enjoyment. Warning though that the flavours are strong and heavy. Do share this dish with your friends or partner!

Gnocchi with Truffle cream sauce @$22

The gnocchi dish was super-cute where one gets chewy mochi-like texture with a slight crisp in its outer shell as it had been lightly  pan-fried. The sauce seemed to be a tad too strongly seasoned though.

If you are a fan of cheeses, do try the Cheese Tortellini with Truffle. It was yums! Handmade tortellini pasta stuffed with cheeses and cooked al-dente. Tossed with shitake mushrooms (loads of it!), black truffle in light onion cream sauce and topped with shavings of parmigiano. So good.

Cheese Tortellini with Truffle @$22

Thank you Kris for the invite and Stanley for hosting the tasting session.

The Wicked Garlic

Location: 8 Grange Road, #05-03 Cathay Cineleisure Orchard, Singapore 239695
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWickedGarlic/

[Media Invite] Nanjing Impressions 南京大牌档 @ Plaza Singapura

Nanjing Impressions is located at Level 4 of Plaza Singapura. Its decor is purposeful and diners would probably feel like that they have been transported back to the olden days in China. It was interesting to explore the cavernous space and to take a closer look at the carvings on beams, the little touches here and there.

dining space

private room

What exactly is Nanjing cuisine? For one, it has familiar flavours that's similar to Shanghai or Suzhou cuisine. However, I've learnt that Nanjing cuisine leaned towards showcasing of the excellence of knive-works (刀工) of the chefs, and an overall balance of flavours. The signature eats of Nanjing included salted duck (盐水鸭) and "lion's head" (狮子头) meatball.

menu

南京雨花 or rainflower tea

Nanjing's Yu Hua (雨花 ) tea is light in colour and has a clean yet strong mellow taste. Otherwise, there are some specialty tea that one could order as well. I had a chilled 酸梅汤 (suan mei tang) as this brought back memories of Beijing.

酸梅汤

Have you tried the Chilled Drunken Virgin Red Crayfish? (how would one knows if the shellfish is supposed to be a virgin?) But I supposed the name came about from the 15-year vintage huadiao wine marinade of Nu-er Hong (女儿红) or Virgin Red.

Chilled Drunken Virgin Red Crayfish @$33.80 (12 pcs)

The crayfish doesn't really have much meat in them but the marinade was superb.The sweet 
and aged taste of the nu-er hong plus the saltiness from the plum was to my liking. Nice.

Jinling Signature Salted Duck @$32 (medium)

Salted Duck (盐水鸭) will inevitably turned up if you do a search for Nanjing cuisine.At Nanjing Impressions, diners will get a chance to taste this 400-year old recipe which involves 10 precise steps from dry rubbing, seasoning. brining to hang-drying. These gets translated into delicate texture and well-balanced taste.

"Was it noodles?"  That was the reaction when fellow diners tasted the beancurd julienne. Soft yet it held itself well when picked up using chopsticks.

Sesame-scented Beancurd Julienne @$8.80/portion

Poached "Lion's Head" Meatball @$13.80/portion

I liked the meatball as it has a melt-in-your mouth texture. The adequate fats ratio helped, I think. Best to share the fist-sized meatballs with at least 2 more pax!

yummy meatball

Baby Rooster Stew with Special Sauce @$23.80

The Baby Rooster Stew had a familiar homely taste to it. Served with sesame bun which was good to mop up the thick sauce with.

I believed that I was smitten by the simple dish of fried rice cake drizzled with palm sugar. Meant as a savoury dish but it felt like a dessert to me! Imagine deep fried tokbokki that's crispy on the outside and soft, chewy mochi-ness on its insides. Sweet!

fried rice cake with palm sugar

so chewy, so good

If you are only in the mood for something light and quick, here are a few good options. Could get the Celestial Roast Duck Dumplings for very light bites. This is not xiao long bao, so don't expect any juice to burst out of its skin! The skin was slightly thick and neatly pleated into 20-folds. The meat inside tasted more like pork though it was roast duck in it.

Celestial Roast Duck Dumplings @$5.80/3 pcs

Another deceptively simple but good dish was the Jinling Noodles in Light Soy Sauce Broth. The broth was so good! The thin noodles were easy to slurp and the hot broth was comforting. The soy sauce tasted abit like those that were used for Hongkong style steamed fish.

Jinling Noodles in Light Soy Sauce Broth @$4.80/portion

One dish that I couldn't wrap my head around was the Madam Chiang's Nutritious Beauty Porridge. Sweet soy milk porridge with lily bulbs and Chinese yam. A beauty food (or food to helps you become a beauty?) and named after Soong Meiling (was First Lady of Republic of China). I think I still prefer savoury porridge.

Madam Chiang's Nutritious Beauty Porridge @$6.80 per portion

Ended the night with the Osmanthus-scented Steamed Sponge. It has a slightly denser body and chewy. The fragrance of osmanthus was rather mild and the sweetness was gentle.

Osmanthus-scented Steamed Sponge @$4.80/portion

Thank you Stella and Nanjing Impressions for hosting the dinner and HGW for the invite. I have enjoyed learning more about Nanjing cuisine.

Nanjing Impressions 南京大牌档

Location: 68 Orchard Road, #04-46-51, Plaza Singapura, 238839
Contact:  6352 7877
Website: http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/nanjing-impressions-orchard-river-valley/

Business Hours:

Daily: 11am to 10pm (last order: 9.30pm)

Performance time:
Live “Suzhou Pingtan” performance (storytelling through singing with 3 stringed lute and pipa)
Tue - Thur   6pm – 8.45pm
Fri - Sun    12pm – 2pm / 6pm – 8.45pm