[Media Invite] Joyous Spring Reunion @ Grand Copthorne Waterfront

With Lunar New Year just round the corner, are we ready for it? Who still does the cooking for the reunion dinner? Let's see a show of hands. Perhaps most still do, and likely steamboat would be the preferred style. If you are considering of eating out, let's see what Grand Copthorne Waterfront's Food Capital has in mind for their diners.

Spring is here!

Was invited for a preview of Food Capital's Lunar New Year buffet spread. Helmed by Executive Chef David Toh, he and his team will be presenting a heartwarming feast for diners to enjoy during this festive season.

Besides the popular items such as seafood on ice, tempura and sashimi, one could enjoy special CNY dishes such as bountiful treasures pen cai, fish maw and seafood soup, braised fatt choy, dried oysters, lotus roots and chinese mushrooms, stewed pork trotters, drunken herbal prawns, signature char siew marinated whole baby lamb, and crystal tang yuan amongst others.

For an auspicious start, let's begin with a prosperity and fun toss of Fa Cai Yu Sheng 发财鱼生 . As 2019 is the Year of the Boar, the yusheng was in this likeness, albeit a cute version of it. One could choose to add on as à la carte order while dining at Food Capital or enjoy it as a takeaway.

Fa Cai Yu Sheng 发财鱼生

财源广进~

huat ah~

As the saying goes, if you manage to 'kiap' slices of raw fish from the plate, it means you'd be lucky for the rest of the year. To ensure our continuous good fortune, there is nothing to stop us from topping up the yusheng plate with more salmon from the sashimi counter. Yay to buffet!

yusheng 鱼生

年年有鱼

seafood on ice

For something hot to warm the tummy, do try the fish maw and seafood soup. Flavourful, silky smooth and with shreds of dried scallops and crab meat in it. Yums!

Fish Maw and Seafood Soup

silky, umami

For fans of the popular baked oysters, it is available for the buffet for this Lunar New Year. From our past experience, this is one of the popular item where the oysters get taken very very quickly and there is a wait time for the next batch.

baked oysters

Prosperity Crispy Whole Seabass with Sweet and Sour Sauce

The char siew marinated whole baby lamb was interesting. The meat texture was almost like a chewier, firmer version of kurobuta collar.

signature char siew marinated whole baby lamb

roasted meat; signature char siew marinated baby lamb, roast pork, roast chicken

Also look out for delicious treats from the starters line-up, where one could get Japanese baby squid that has great light crunchy texture.

starters

has abalone texture with sesame dressing

Also tried the mala crawfish and drunken herbal prawns. The mala was pretty spicy and I adore the herbal broth of the prawns.

The highlight of the night would have to be the impressive bountiful treasures pen cai. Everyone went ooohs and aahhhs when the pen cai in the 1m wok was brought in. Its layer consist of 娃娃菜 (wawa cai), mushrooms, braised dried oysters, dried scallops working its way upwards with sea cucumber, beancurd skin, roasted duck, roasted pork, roasted chicken, abalone, big head prawns and fa cai (black moss). The pen cai will be available for the Lunar New Year buffet at Food Capital, albeit with some modifications in the presentation for buffet line.

盆菜 (pen cai)

Leave some stomach space for the dessert as Chef David has a few surprises for us. My favourites are the sweet citrus fruit jelly in the shape of a fish, and the crystal tang yuan. Have the cold dessert first then the hot ones.

Here's a glimpse of the dessert spread:

refreshingly sweet citrus jelly

so pretty

kueh

crystal tang yuan 水晶汤圆

The crystal dumpling was rather mesmerizing to look at. It has the ginger base soup served warm and the insides of the dumpling could be sweet potato (purple dumpling), and black sesame (yellow dumpling).

It was a full-filling dinner, and great to have celebrated an early Lunar New Year with friends at Grand Copthorne Waterfront.

Thank you Gilbert for the invite, team Grand Copthorne Waterfront Singapore for hosting the event and Chef David Toh and team for the abundance of good food.

Wishing everyone a Happy Lunar New Year 猪年大吉！

Food Capital

Location: Grand Copthorne Waterfront, 392 Havelock Rd, Singapore 169663
Website: http://www.celebrateatgcw.com/cny2019
Contact: 6233 1100
Email: dining.gcw@millenniumhotels.com

Promotions:

Early Bird Discount for Lunar New Year Eve
Reunion Buffet Dinner and Fa Cai Yu Sheng Takeaway
30% discount (Reserve by 20 January 2019)
20% discount (Reserve by 3 February 2019)

28 January to 20 February 2019

Lunar New Year Festive Buffet Lunch

Monday to Friday Saturday and Sunday
Adult: $66++ Adult: $66.60++

Lunar New Year Festive Buffet Dinner

(excluding 4 February 2019)
Monday to Sunday
Adult: $88++
4 February 2019

Lunar New Year Eve Reunion Buffet Dinner

Adult: $98++/ $138++ (includes free flow of
bubbly, house wines, soft drinks and juices)

Note: please refer to hotel's website for latest updates

[Food Tasting] Jia Bin Klang Bak Kut Teh 嘉宾 巴生肉骨茶 @ 62 Rangoon Road

嘉宾 巴生肉骨茶 (Jia Bin Ba Sheng Rou Gu Cha) originated from Seremban (Negeri Sembilan Malaysia) but serves Klang-style bak kut teh. Malaysian bak kut teh (pork ribs tea) has the characteristic of dark coloured broth, herbal (药材肉骨茶) and has a mix of ingredients such as stomach, intestines, pork ribs, pork belly, golden mushrooms and deep fried beancurd skin.

The typical herbs in herbal pork ribs soup are 玉竹 (yuzhu), 甘草 (gan cao), 肉桂皮 (gui pi), 北芪 (bei qi), 八角 (ba jiao / star anise), 党参 (dang shen), 川芎 (chuan xiong) and 当归 (dang gui). But I don't recall my parents ever did cook bak kut teh at home. But I do remember having delicious memories of enjoying bak kut teh when I was a kid when we ate out.

Was invited by Hence recently to try out Jia Bin. Located close to Farrer Park MRT Exit B (about 10 minutes walk) or about $7 cab-fare away from Novena.

shop front

menu

menu (2)

The default bak kut teh pot came loaded with pork belly chunks, small intestines, stomach, and tail. If you do not want any of the default ingredients or would like to have more of this or less of that, do inform the staff when ordering.

The soup was pleasant and not overly strong with the herbal taste. The dark coloured soup was easy to drink with just a tiny hint of licorice. Soup is refillable upon request.

Bak Kut Teh 肉骨茶 @$15

Of course, there must be sides like preserved vege, you tiao (fried dough sticks), tao pok and the customary vegetables in order to have a balanced meal.

salted vege 咸菜 @$3.50

油條 (fried dough sticks) @$2.50

生菜 lettuce with oyster sauce (@$5

to fu bo @$2.50

Klang Bak Kut Teh is also synonymous with dry-bak kut teh. For me, who is from Kajang, my preference is still the soupy bak kut teh.

干肉骨茶 Dry Bak Kut Teh @$8.80

I heard from the boss that one of their best sellers Hua Diao Wine (花雕酒) Chicken. So we got one of that to try. The fragrance is noticeable when this dish is served. The sauce goes well with the rice. One could eat copious amount of rice with the sauce alone. Chicken was tender, with mostly the upper leg or thigh meats.

花雕酒鸡 Hua Diao Wine Chicken @$8.80

Another favourite, we heard is the Spicy Pork Belly dish. This was confusing to me because it wasn't spicy at all. Maybe the chili was not put in? If you like dry style bak kut teh and prefers just pork belly in the pot, then this may be to your liking.

火爆肉 Spicy Pork Belly @$8.80

If you want something softer, go for the braised pig's hock. Full of collagen (read skin) that's soft to chew and meat that just collapses in your mouth. Yums. Not overly seasoned and goes well with white rice and a dab of chili padi, minced raw garlic with dark soy sauce. Yums.

猪元蹄 Pig's Hock @$10

Overall, it was a meaty meal at Jia Bin Klang Bak Kut Teh. Tea is $1.50 per pax. Prices are nett price. Expect to spend about $10 to $15 per pax.

Thank you Hence for the invite, Ivan and Tracy for sharing the calories. Special thanks to Alvin and Jia Bin Klang Bak Kut Teh for hosting us.

开动咯~

Here's a video of the food:

Jia Bin Klang Bak Kut Teh 嘉宾 巴生肉骨茶

Address: 62 RANGOON ROAD 218352 Singapore
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/JiaBinKlangBakKutTeh/
Contact: 6900 7708
Business Hours:
Monday to Fridays 10am to 3pm, 5pm to 10pm. Closed on Tuesdays.
Sat and Sundays - 10 am to 10pm

[Japanese Arcade] That Happy Feeling at Ton Amusement トン・アミューズメント Orchard Central

Caught the arcade gaming bug recently (specifically the claw machines) ever since my first catch in Taiwan. Few months back, had the chance to try some of the Japanese game centers in Kyoto and Tokyo. The game centers in Tokyo were really lively because once someone has won something (usually the bigger prizes), the staff would make it known to all by clanging on tambourines or blowing a horn, and shouting congratulatory messages. It felt pretty joyous and exciting! In Japan, I had some mini successes in catching snacks like KitKat via the UFO catchers.

By chance, came across Ton Amusement website and read that it provides similar gaming experience like in Japan. Plus, the toys are also similar to the ones in Japan. Oh, in that case, I do need to give it a try!

Ton Amusement is located at Level 5 of Orchard Central.

entrance

to catch a plushie or a figurine or both?

big plushies

At first glance, it is still very much smaller than those in Japan. However, I liked that Ton Amusement have interesting toys to be won and a good variety of games like tripod, claw/crane machines and UFO catchers (single prong and two prongs). One of the issues I faced in Japan, was not to try any of those with big items because I'd have a problem on how to lug those back home. Since Ton Amusement is in Singapore, there's no such concern anymore, yay!

Rilakkuma

do you want to take these kitties home?

large sized Pooh

Watch out for seasonal items such as Grinch or Jack Skellington plushies who made their appearances during Christmas.

Grinch (Christmas item)

For fans of figurines, there are plenty here.

sexy~

One Piece - Shiny Venus (Boa Hancock and Nefertari Vivi)

such details

One Piece - Marco

To play, one could change money into tokens. Most machines are 3 tokens per play and there are some with 4 token per play. That works out to about $1.50 per play minimally.

Or, you could get the member card (without package is $10 with no value) and first top-up of $20 is required. They have member-tier as well with discounts from 5% off per play to maximum of 10% off per play for the highest tier. Membership card starts from aoi (blue) $200 top-up, midori (green) at $500 top-up and black at $1000 top-up.

tap to play

Once you have exchanged your tokens or utilizing the member card, all you need to do is to choose a machine that you'd like to play or which prize you'd like to bring home. If I think the toy/prize might worth say $25, and if am able to catch it within 12 tries, then to me, that's a good play. I'm a noob so I'd be happy if can catch it actually. But yeah, will try to improve on the next plays. Which I think is still possible for UFO catchers since it has a skill component to it.

For my first catch at Ton Amusement, it was a Jack Skellington plushie via the UFO catcher machine. Took me about 15 tries to get it. Staff was rather nice to give me tips on the best position of the claw to start. Then after about the 10th failed attempt, he came over to position the toy to decrease the difficulty level and eventually, I got the plushie after a few more attempts. That was a similar to my experience in Taito Station Ikebukuro where the staff genuinely wants their customer to go home happy.

I like the one on the right

so cute x 2~

On second visit to Ton Amusement, it was evident that I was terrible at the tripod games! Neither was I any better at the game where one got to move the single prong of the UFO catcher to hook the top of the box where there's a hole to slowly hook and drag it to the drop point.

am no good at this type

Here's a short video on the Ton Amusement experience.

Was I able to win anything? Yes, eventually. On that day of visit, the most number of tries went to the UFO catcher machine with the Harry Potter/Newt Scamander QPosket prize. But was it fun? Definitely!

spent the most tries to プライズ 

Perseverance is key and it is always good to have an estimation of a prize's worth prior to starting the game. There will be moments of 'almost there' only to have the prongs hitting the pole and an obvious grumble about a wasted chance.

finally

Quite handsome

Sometimes, you might get lucky and able to win a prize using just one or two tries. I got a mini Sumikko via this manner. Probably, it was pay load time?

mini Sumikko

tag

Thus far, have played there twice and both were pleasant experiences. Will be going back to see their newer prizes every now and then.

Meanwhile, have fun!