The Gong By Drinks & Co @ Duo Galleria

Revisited this place for one of our wine nights because there's tasty food and reasonably priced drinks. Another motive was partly because we were curious if the food still tasted good on a regular visit as opposed to a tasting session. 

drinks menu

Decided to get myself a glass of beer while waiting for the rest of the peeps. Hey, it's Happy Hour after all! An iced cold Sapporo would be nice.

かんぱい Sapporo Premium @$11

Soon, the rest of the gang arrived and we decided to munch on truffle fries and enjoy our pre-dinner drinks. Loved that the fries was served piping hot, but thought something was missing from the bowl. Ahhh....I think am accustomed to having truffle fries topped with shaved parmesan so when this version was served without it, it just felt lacking. Sorry, brain had been wired in this way!

three is not a crowd

Skinny Truffle Fries @$16

pretty bottle of soda water

beer and fries

"What's nice here?" Asked our friends who had never tried this place. The majority of us smiled and nodded. Most of the dishes were recommended based on our past experience during the tasting session and the rest was based on preference of individuals.

To start, we tried the foie gras. Served glistening, on a piece of crisp toast and adorned with sliced strawberries and grape. The liver was quiver-y, rich and decadent tasting. We had but the tiniest piece as the 6 of us was sharing for this item and as per the rest of the meal. Hahaa!

Pan Seared Foie Gras @$25

We also had the Gong Salt & Pepper Squid. Anything that has the namesake of the restaurant, better be good! The squid was battered and deep fried to a golden hue. There were some cut chilies, peppercorn and garlic crisp tossed into the mix, salted and the plate was finger licking good. I was actually scooping up the bits of garlic chips to munch. So tasty especially with that hint of peppercorn.

Gong Pepper & Squid @$17

For mains, we ordered carbs! Lots of carbs! Somehow carbohydrates and alcohol, goes well together. To accompany our meal, we picked a bottle of red off the shelf. 

Big Bunch Merlot (Hawke's Bay 2014) @$48

juicy and yummy

Let's dig into the mains, shall we? First up, and by popular demand, the Assorted Mushroom Pizza. We absolutely loved the flavours of the mushroom pizza the previous time but again, it looked the same yet there was a difference in taste. We figured out, it could be the mushroom paste was reduced this time round, and hence there was a reduction in the umami flavours of the mushrooms.

Assorted Mushroom Pizza @$26

up up and away, lingering cheese pull~

Pizza was still good and we enjoyed it through and through. We also revisited another favourite (although mine was the Hokkien Mee!) and that is the Crab Meat Claw Fried Rice with Tobiko. Colourful plate and best eaten while still hot.

Crab Meat Claw Fried Rice with Tobiko @$14

How can we not order any meat? Impossible! And, so we had meat. An expensive Bangers and Mash, the lovely Iberico Pork and our favourite New Zealand Lamb Rack.

Bangers and Mash @$27

Loved the crispy fried onion rings. Lovely big ring but alas, only that few pieces. It has the English Cumberland sausage, that prompted me to search wiki for it, and it's supposed to be long.  But ours was short lei, how? Haha! Enjoyably meaty, salty enough to reach for a sip of the wine and loved that caramelized onion gravy on that bed of soft mash.

We craved for meat and of course, ordered our favourites from previous visit. The Iberico Pork came looking sexy with its charred bits. The center piece (pun intended) was amazingly good. Juicy, flavourful and tender. Lovely texture of the pork, enjoyed the charred broccoli and lovely eggplant puree (but this was less smokey in comparison).

Iberico Pork @$24

amazingly flavourful, tender pork

Quite consistently, the New Zealand Lamb Rack (250gms) was the best performer. It was as good as we remembered it. Well, previously, we had it in the Mixed Grill Platter but this time round, the spotlight is on the lamb rack and lamb rack alone and it delivered!

New Zealand Lamb Rack @$34

side view

Well seasoned. and superbly grilled, the lamb rack was succulent to bite and loved those meat near the bone. Smokey, salty and flavourful, plus non-gamey. Served with roasted baby potatoes, grilled  broccoli (gotta love this!) and pickled shallots. Sneaky to have pickled shallots in there but it's refreshing to the taste bud with a sharp tangy sweet jolt.

Service was friendly, and efficient. Overall, a good place to dine with good food and reasonably priced bottled wines.

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

Red Star Restaurant 红星酒家 @ 54 Chin Swee Road

An impromptu visit to Red Star during a weekday lunch sometime in Dec last year, thanks to a colleague who drove us out to enjoy good food. It has been too many years since I last visited and would like to say that I had enjoyed the dim sum. Delicious food and a special treat from the said colleague. 谢谢你!

entrance

The place was bustling during lunch time. Lots of foreign friends were spotted dining there. We went without reservation and luckily, there was a table available for us.

interior

dim sum menu cum order chit

Started with porridge because the service staff was pushing the porridge cart over, so we ordered two bowls to share amongst the four of us. Flavourful and thick, plus loaded with chunky chopped century egg, minced pork bits, deep fried crispies, and spring onions.

scooping up the porridge

century egg porridge @$4.70

loaded with ingredients

Then, the usual suspects of har gao, siew mai, chee cheong fun and char siew bao. Loved the plump har gao that was packed with prawn meat. But we had to eat fast lest the skin hardened.

har gao @$4.70

siew mai @$4.70

Siew mai was also topped with much fillings and each bite was devoured quickly because the next item had arrived! Char siew bao (BBQ pork buns) were piping hot, but it was so good! The scallops chee cheong fun was good but I liked the char siew bao more because imagine hot, fluffy bao with savoury fillings, doesn't that sound yums already?

char siew bao @$3.70

so fluffy and savoury

Scallop Rice Roll @$4.90

Of course, we didn't forget the steamed pork ribs and chicken feet. The chicken feet was rather spicy and quite shioks to eat. The steamed pork ribs trumped with its flavourful, tender meat that's slippery smooth.

chicken feet @$4.70

pork ribs @$4.70

Of course we didn't just stop there, we ordered a bunch of other things such as seafood beancurd skin, carrot cake, carrot cake, prawn rolls, and yam puffs.

seafood beancurd skin @$4.10

fried carrot cake @$4.90

banana with prawn @$4.70

yam puff @$4.70

not sure what this was but it was nice

yang mai @$4.70

fried prawn dumplings @$4.70

For the finale, we got the special of the day and that's the sugar cane prawn which the staff said was a special item and may not be available everyday.

sugar cane prawn @$4.90

can't wait to bite

The sugar cane prawn was of a good size, and easy to hold. It's a prawn paste on a sugar cane stick and coated with bread. After deep-fry, the bread became fluffy and crispy while the prawn paste inside remained succulent and tasty. It reminds me of  面包虾.

We were so full after the meal. The above fed 4 guys and 2 girls.

When things are back to normalcy, would like to revisit to try their other items.

Red Star Restaurant 红星酒家

Address: 54 Chin Swee Rd, #07-23, Singapore 160054
Website: https://redstarrestaurant.com.sg/
Contact: 6532 5266
Business Hours:
Daily 8am–3pm, 6–10pm

[Hotel Deals] Have a POPPIN Good Time @ Hotel G Singapore

Ever wondered how's a staycation at Hotel G Singapore feels like? Wonder no more and simply book one staycation package for 2 pax for the upcoming weekend! Rates per night are $178 nett for stays from Sundays to Thursdays and $188 nett for stays on Fridays and Saturdays.

photo credit: Hotel G Singapore

photo credit: Hotel G Singapore

How about a bottle of French Champagne to sweeten the deal? Yes, they've got that covered too! Now, imagine yourself lazing over the weekend enjoying the cosy King-sized bed with your partner, sipping few glasses of champagne and snacking on homemade popcorn? Sounds good right!  End your stay with a breakfast or brunch (on weekends only) at award-winning Ginett Restaurant & Wine Bar. Don't forget there's complimentary high-speed Wi-Fi & unlimited downloads of newspapers and magazines from all around the globe with the Press Reader app too!

photo credit: Hotel G Singapore

Wait no more, and simply enter the promo code POPPIN at www.hotelgsingapore.com or use this link to book. This promotion is valid till 31 May 2020. Terms and conditions apply

[Travel] Ipoh - Zichar 煮炒 at Sun Tuck Kee 新德记

What other things to eat in Ipoh besides the famed beansprouts chicken, ipoh gai see hor fun or dim sums? Well, we went to check out their zichar and the only place with some hope for a seat (it was drizzling that night) was Sun Tuck Kee. Everyone else seemed too crowded. The photo of the shopfront below was taken on another day when they were less crowded.

restaurant facade

Waited for about 15 minutes before we got a table and another 15 minutes before anyone came to take order. Yes, they were super busy and my dad was getting grumpier by the minute.

menu

Ordered three noodles as mains and 3 side dishes. There's baby octopus that's pretty chewy and good with the chili dip otherwise, not much taste. The braised chicken feet was good and falls off the bones but skinny. Meatballs soup were good. These took forever to come actually.

side dishes of boiled baby octopus (@RM17), chicken feet (@RM7) and meatballs soup (@RM1.10 per piece)

We were still hungry by the time the noodles came.

Hokkien Noodles @RM17

Fried Tang Hoon @RM13

The Hokkien noodles were well fried and tasty but the sambal was a letdown. Fried Tang Hoon was surprisingly good and one of the better dish that night. Awesome flavour for this rustic looking dish.

Next, was the wat dan hor which warranted a double-take. Why? Because it's the first time I'm seeing this dish served in a large soup bowl. I was like, did we order soup? Hahahaa, the noodles were all drowning in the gravy!

滑蛋河 Ipoh style

yes, correct.. this is 滑蛋河

Actually, the wat dan hor was nice. The hot gravy was flavourful and tasty (from msg maybe?) and made it more satisfying for us who were really hungry at that time.

where has all the gravy gone to?

Overall, the food is good and reasonably priced.

Sun Tuck Kee 新德记

Address: 65, Jalan Yau Tet Shin, Pusat Bandaraya Ipoh 30300
Contact: +60 12 514 2228
Business Hours:
Daily:12:00pm - 03:30am

[Hotel Deals] Perks for My Millennium Members

Updates for peeps out there considering to join as a "My Millennium" member, and here's what you'll be getting:

Key Perks:

• Up to 15% off your stay for My Millennium Members*
• Up to 20% off dining
• 2,000 Bonus Points
• Complimentary High Speed Wi-Fi
• Bonus Perks
• My Millennium Reward points
• Double points - Every 10 nights

 

Book by 31 March, 2020 for stays until December 31st, 2020.

To sign-up or to know more about the membership programme, here's the link: https://www.millenniumhotels.com/en/programmes/my-millennium/introduction/

Am heartened to know that the hotel group is continuing their best effort for their guests:

https://www.millenniumhotels.com/en/offers/asia/we-clean-we-care-we-welcome/

As alfresco dining may be the better option for now, let's take a look at the beautiful scenery that Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel's alfresco dining offers:

alfresco dining