[Closed] Dim Sum Lunch @ Prima Tower Revolving Restaurant

This establishment has been around for the longest time. Been there a couple of times but this was my first in trying their dim sum menu. Located in the middle of nowhere, at 201 Keppel Road, and nearest MRT would be Harbourfront.

There's valet parking if you are driving there.

entrance to the building

Head right in and take the lift to Level 9. Depending on which lift, there's one that requires some more climbing of stairs. After which, there's an escalator that will bring you to the restaurant. The restrooms are at the start of those flight of stairs.

interior

view

view changes

If you are dining on a weekend, do note that last order is 2pm and the restaurant closes at 230pm. We were there at 1 pm and the feeling was a tad rushed. Would recommend to allocate at least 2 hours to enjoy the experience.

boiled peanuts and pickles

chinese tea

There are set menus with reasonable pricing of about $288++ (for 10 pax) and one gets their popular Peking Duck, shredded scallops in egg white,  fish maw soup, noodles, a fish and a meat dish, vegetable dish and dessert. But we were there for dim sum, so ala-carte it would be.

Our modus operandi would be somewhat simple, like "give me one of each". Haha!

tableful of delicious dim sum

My de-facto order would be the char siew bao and siew mai as these are basic items of any dim sum meal. They served it steaming hot, and that's good because we'd be taking photos first. Oh, but poor har gao, they should be eaten quickly!

soft, fluffy 叉烧包

look at these beautiful fillings

The siew mai at Prima was dense and with a very visible prawn. But I'd prefer if the prawn had its tail peeled. I know it's visually appealing but still...

prawn siew mai

har gao 

Was rather hungry, so those har gao or siew mais were devoured fairly quickly. And then, there were some rather interesting stuffs too. Like steamed rice rolls with century egg and mango. Say whuutt?!

steamed rice roll with century egg, pickled ginger and mango

no kidding!

I sincerely thought that dish would taste weird. Pungent century egg, with pickled ginger, mango and wrapped in soft rice roll? Hmmm. I don't know because it sounded a tad scary.

Surprisingly, it works. It was just a pity that the century egg yolk was not those soft lava kind that you find in Hong Kong, but the combination of QQ'ness from century egg skin and the rice roll, that ultra sweetness from the mango and pickled ginger was refreshing.

Finally tried the 炸兩 (zha leong), of fried dough fritters and wrapped in steamed rice rolls. The one we ordered had squid paste stuffed into the fritters. Nice texture and while I couldn't taste the squid, it was nice to chew on and I do like savoury chee cheong fun.

fried dough fritters stuffed with squid paste wrapped in rice rolls

savoury rice rolls

Other staples dim sum included the chicken feet, pork ribs, and fried carrot cake. The classics, if you may.

steamed pork ribs

steamed chicken feet

pan fried carrot cake (and that's my camera reflected o the spoon, =x)

There's stewed beef tripe too and by now, was feeling rather full.

stewed beef tripe

But we are not leaving until we tried their house specialty too. Yes, the Beijing Duck and the Shredded Scallops with Egg White. One could opt for the service staff to portion out the dish, or DIY. For the Shredded Scallops with Egg White (赛螃蟹), one could opt to add the black vinegar in. I preferred it with vinegar, actually.

Shredded Scallops with Egg White 赛螃蟹

vinegar, if you wish

look at this luscious bowl

For Peking Duck, they'd show you the whole uncut duck first. After which, the skin is removed from the duck and served with egg crepe, cut cucumbers, sliced chives and sauce for DIY wraps.

Peking Duck wrap starter kit

glorious skin

artistic plate from Hence

It was pretty fun to wrap up the skin and eat it. Some of us may wrap it beautifully, while others may wrap it functionally. In the end, we still enjoyed the food!

yummy package

The second serving of the duck, we chose it to be simply stir-fried with onions. Meaty and flavourful. It was of a nostalgic taste like home-cooking.

duck, second serving

The food was delicious, the view was great and the service was efficient. Best thing was the companionship that like-minded people brings. Thank you to fellow foodies; Ivan, Hence, Tracy, Kris, Tiara and Rachelle for spending Saturday lunch together. Cheers!

We spent about $43 per pax for the meal. It was super duper filling.

[Tasting] The Gong by Drinks & Co. @ Duo Galleria

Within a few minutes walk from Downtown MRT Station, The Gong by Drinks & Co. is one destination where you could get good food (and drinks) at reasonable price. The menu has a range that spans from charchuterie, salads, bar bites to mains from the grill, Western styled and right up to Asian favourites. Was invited for a tasting and let's see how's the experience, shall we?

welcome to The Gong

menu

I arrived right in time for starters. For drinks, I had their housepour red of Cabernet Sauvignon. Cocktails, beer and non-alcoholic beverages are available too.

Gong Salt and Pepper Squid @$17

Florets of Cauliflower @$14

Crispy Chicken Karaage @$18

From the photos, you'd probably realised that I was late to the party! Hahaha, true to that. Nevertheless, I particularly enjoyed the cauliflower which had burnt cauliflowers florets tossed in pesto sauce and garnished with radish, grapes and mint leaves. Tasty!

Now, let me have a sip of the wine.

cheers for surviving through the week

Was I hungry? Yes! So let's bring on the mains. For the meatatarian, there's the Mixed Meat Platter. It's one of The Gong's Signature Board, and there's satay (chicken, beef), New Zealand lamb rack (grab this!), grilled Australian beef and two types of pork sausages. These were served with a side of mesclun, olives, a dollop of grain mustard and a small bowl of mint yoghurt sauce.

Mixed Meat Platter @$56

Australian Beef

lovely lamb rack

The lamb rack was tender, evenly cooked and pink. Non-gamey and so good to eat. Sauce was not necessary.

Then, out came the pizza. We tried the local-inspired Zul's Satay Pizza and the western-styled Assorted Mushroom Pizza. I liked both, actually. The satay flavours were on point when eaten together with the cucumber cubes and raw onions. The Assorted Mushroom Pizza were earthy, aromatic and had a certain finesse to it.

Zul's Satay Pizza @$24

Assorted Mushroom Pizza @$26

If pizzas still had yet to satisfy your hunger, then there's fried rice and hokkien mee. Ooh, I was so eager to try The Gong's version of hokkien mee. The verdict? Pretty good for both but I do like the Hokkien Mee more. The fried rice was really generous with the crab meat, and the tobiko not only added colour to the dish, the tiny crunchy roe made the texture more interesting.

A mouthful of the noodles that had been simmered in flavourful stock was simply comforting. The pork slices, julienned chives, fried eggs in the mix plus a dab of the sambal completes the picture. The spice was not overpowering so it supported the overall flavours of the hokkien mee. Then, finish off with a sip of smooth red.

Crab Claw Meat Fried Rice with Tobiko @$14

Hokkien Mee @$14

Have I told you that The Gong does a pretty neat job for its duck and pork too? Oh, I didn't? That won't do. Let's have a look at the Barbeque Smoked Duck Breast and Iberico Pork. The duck breast looked amazingly pink, with tender meat and balanced taste. The baby corns were good too.

Barbeque Smoked Duck Breast @$24

Iberico Pork @$24

For the Iberico Pork, pile those eggplant puree onto a slice of pork and top it with a pickled onion. Pop this into the mouth and be amazed with the flavours. Like how they'd say it, fireworks. Sharp, tangy, sweet, smokey and savoury.

And of course, we rounded up our meal with dessert; chocolate lava cake and tiramisu. Both classics.

Chocolate Lava Cake @$13

Tiramisu @$14

The Gong is a lovely place for a meal and after work drinks. Spacious, and unpretentious. Hearty food and ample selection of drinks. Pretty accessible as it is just minutes away from Downtown MRT Station.

interior

bar

Happy Hour

Thank you Kris for the invite and Amanda for introducing us to the delicious food of The Gong by Drinks & Co. Thank you Jason and the service crew for taking care of our table and Head Chef Wan for the good meal.

The Gong by Drinks & Co

Address: 7 Fraser St, #01-59/60 Duo Galleria, Singapore 189356
Website: http://thegong.com.sg/
Contact: 9619 4568
Business Hours:
Daily 11am to 12am

[Tasting] Mischief @ Esplanade Theatres on the Bay

Mischief is about 10 to 15 minutes from its nearest MRT, and that would be either City Hall MRT or Esplanade MRT. Expect American flavours and lots of alcoholic beverages. Lots.

Great place to chill, watch soccer with a beer tower (or two) and your best buddies.

it's a sign

It was a clear Sunday evening, and we opted for the great outdoors. To cool down from the heat, they brought us a beer tower. Yay!

Housepour Tower @$59.90 per tower (Promo: 2 Towers @$99)

here is where the action is

let's clink our glasses and cheers~

Nearby, we could hear musicians rocking it out at the Esplanade outdoor stage. Though we couldn't see the sunset, the air cooled down a bit and it was time to heal our famished tummies.

let's grab some food!

Can you guess what we had? Fried food and burgers? Absolutely, right!

Started with two fries; the Atomic and Truffle Maximus and then realised that, hey....the burgers also came with a side of fries. Thus, we ended up with fries party that night!

Atomic Fries @$14

Truffle Fries Maximus @$18

The Atomic Fries had sriracha sauce but it was really really mild. Its taste was somewhat cheesy rather than spicy. The Truffle Maximus had sauteed mushrooms, shaved parmesan and a large dose of truffle oil. Because of the mushrooms and shaved parmesan, I enjoyed the truffle fries more.

There's sio bak on the menu, and known as Crackling Pork Belly. Served with a side of pickled gherkins and a sauce made of garlic, onion and oregano that's reminiscent of Thai namjin sauce.

Crackling Pork Belly @$12 

Buttered Clams @$18

Enjoy 500g of Korean flower clams, cooked in sauteed garlic, lightly browned in butter with a splash of white wine. Beware of the cracked shells in the buttered clams though.

Delighted to know that Mischief burgers are made using 150g wagyu patties, and served with onion rings (only two rings!) and a side of fries. All burgers are lovingly sandwiched between toasted brioche buns.

Mamacita @$20

The Mamacita has pepper jack cheese, custom roasted chili blend (what was this? Sambal ah?), sriracha mayo sauce, crispy shallots and spring onions. Said to be for serious spice freaks but I thought it was rather mild. More spicy than the Atomic fries but nothing that we can't handle.

look at this beauty

Loved the colours of the Mamacita. So vibrant! The beef patty itself was all of natural flavours and moist. The onion rings was sweet and nicely fried. A tad greasy but so good.

Stomers @$24

Stoners has slow cooked mushrooms with herbs and melted cheese, arugula, extra virgin olive oil and a touch of ketchup. Okay, it's a mushroom cheeseburger! Classic taste and pretty good. But am favouring Mamacita more.

Stoners - an insider view

And then, there were crispy nachos, courtesy of Chicken Farm, a sharing platter comprising of nachos with cheese, guacamole and salsa, popcorn chicken, and chicken wings done two ways; Prawn Paste and Buffalo Wings.

nachos

nachos, guacamole, pickled chilies, sour cream, salsa

The Chicken Farm has enough food on it to feed six full grown adults. Chicken wings, nachos and beer. What more could we ask for?

The Chicken Farm @$48

Still feeling thirsty? Let's try some cocktails. There was Mochatini which tasted of Bailey's, Kahlua and espresso with some cocoa crisps for decoration, the Soju Slushie which tasted of yuzu and soju and my favourite, Coronarita of sweet blended strawberry slushie and Corona beer.

from far left to right to front: Mochatini @$22, Upside Down Soju Slushie @$26, Coronarita @$22

Mochatini for the coffee/milk chocolate lovers

In between of drinks, food and making merry, why not try your hands on the electronic darts machine or have a game of beer pong? Mischief has a corner for these activities.

how to play?

the challenge begins!

For the darts machine, one need to purchase a card for $12 with $10 stored credits for the game. Just inform the staff and you're good to start. Each game of darts is $2 credit and for 2 players, that'll be 2 x $2. Chose the countdown 701 points and we had maximum fun (and some wrist action, hehe).

Eat, drink, play and repeat. We also sampled the Wagyu Beef Brisket and boy, it was good.

Wagyu Beef Brisket @$32

Slow-cooked 24hr wagyu beef that's tender, and properly crusted with black pepper and served with a side of salad and fries. We ate a mountain of fries! The brisket was leaning more on the sweeter note.

yums

Many thanks to Jereme for the invite and Mischief for feeding us and plying us with drinks.

The darts machine was entertaining. Thank you Marc, Rachelle, CK and Tiara for playing.

Mischief

Address: 8 Raffles Ave, #01-10/12, Singapore 039802
Website: https://mischief.sg/
Contact: 6532 0106
Business Hours:
Sunday 5pm to 12mn
Monday 5pm to 11pm
Tues-Thurs 5pm to 1am
Fri/Sat 5pm to 3am