Hua Nam Restaurant @ Upper Thomson Road

Located at 244F Upper Thomson Road, this coffeeshop can be seen by the main road. Along the same stretch, there are other shops selling prata, porridge, noodles etc.

It feels old school and I don't mean the modernised old school vibe. The shop has probably been around for many many years.

inside the coffeeshop

old school tiles

This coffeeshop sells zhi char, roasted meats, fish/chicken porridge and dim sum. My friend wanted to eat the dim sum, so we ordered that.

dim sum

To order dim sum, just go up to the front of the shop where you see trays of dim sum, and let the young chap or uncle know which type you want. They'll steam it up and send it to your table. We ordered har gao, siew mai, lor mai kai, xiao long bao, pork ribs, chee cheong fun and beancurd roll with minced meat and waterchestnut.

pickled vege and chili sauce

har gao

lor mai kai

siew mai

The har gao was tiny and prawns is definitely not this coffeeshop's forte. My friend says that har gao is his benchmark for any dim sum joint. So, it was disappointment at first bite. The lor mai kai tasted as it looked. Uninspiring. The siew mai looked alright and it tasted like those factory produced version minus the strong peppery taste commonly found in those mass manufactured products.

chee cheong fun

The chee cheong fun here looked a little unusual. The skin was thick and it was stuffed with minced meat, and its sauce was at the bottom of the tiny saucer. Not unlikeable, just unusual.

waiter, there's minced meat in my cheong fun!

We had a laugh when we picked up the xiao long bao to eat. They used cut carrot as a base for the xiao long bao to prevent its bottom from sticking.

carrot base for the xiao long bao

In my opinion, the xiao long bao here tasted strangely like da bao (big bao) with soggy skin. I would avoid this at all cost.

If there is one dim sum that you must order, make it the steamed pork ribs. Served piping hot, its meat was tender, juicy and tasty. Flavourful and not too much bones.

steamed pork ribs

this was how it all looked like after a bite or two

The chili sauce here tasted like a watered down version, and not spicy. We had about 8 plates of items plus 3 iced barley. The total meal costs about $22 for 3 pax.

Dian Xiao Er @ Lot One Choa Chu Kang

Located at the basement of Lot One, this restaurant seems to be enjoying brisk business during the weekends. The waitresses are garbed in traditional Chinese inn waiter's costumes. Visited on a Sunday evening at about 7pm and there was a queue already formed. Waited for about 10 minutes before being seated.

interior

service staff hurrying to attend to walk-in customers

wet towel (chargeable)

Their set meals start from $38++ till $66++ for 2 pax. For us, we took the family set meal (@$38++ for 2 pax) that comprises of roasted angelica duck, mongolian pork ribs (or dong po rou), stir fried kai lan with salted fish and lime, soup of the day and white rice. Ordered plum with lime and luo han with longan for our drinks as the set doesn't come with any drinks.

Service was friendly, and the wait staff always greets the customer prior to placing the food on the table.

longan luo han drink

sour plum with lime drink

I'd much prefer if the longan drink was sweeter. The sour plum with lime lives up to expectation as it was sour, salty, sweet and refreshing. Both drinks could do with more ice though. The food was served fairly quickly and soon we were enjoying our meal.

table-full of dishes for 2 pax

stir fried baby kai lan with salted fish and lime

close up view

This is my first time having vegetable that tasted abit sourish. The salted fish bits were very very little and its fragrance was practically drowned out by the sourish taste.

mongolian pork ribs

closer view of pork ribs

The pork ribs was tasty, and its meat was tender to bite. Tasted pepperish and sweetish. This was the most oily dish in our meal.

soup of the day, old cucumber soup

The soup of the day was old cucumber soup and each has one bowl. The soup was pretty yummy. Besides the slice of old cucumber, there was pork ribs bits and some herbs in the soup.

soupy remnants

angelica duck

nice roasted skin and tender meat

The roasted duck was enjoyable as its meat was tender and its skin nicely roasted. The sauce has strong herbal taste (当归 or angelica) and was a tad too salty and sweet at the same time. Goes well with rice.

This meal costs about $50 (inclusive of towels, drinks and taxes) for 2 pax.

Here's a link to subsequent visit with family.

Limoncello Pizza and Grill @ Rivergate, 95 Robertson Quay

Located within the Rivergate condominium, Blk 95. Very close to Bar Bar Black Sheep. Business was thriving when we were there. Expect lots of well-heeled diners, and non-locals, or an occassional young couple on a date to impress.

Opted for al-fresco dining, and weather was hot and humid these days. The indoor dining looked comfortable with airconditioning, plants and ceiling fans. Ice-water is served here, as well as bottled ones.

getting ready for dinner

Ordered a ravioli dish (with cheese and mushrooms filling), pizza and squid ink pasta to share amongst 4 of us. Also had a limoncello drink each (just to get a taste of the restaurant's namesake).

limoncello

Limoncello is actually an after-dinner drink, and made from lemon peel. Very sweet. Bread basket was served while we waited for our main courses to arrive.

bread basket

bread dip

The first to arrive was the ravioli.

ravioli

mushroom and cheese fillings

The ravioli was fragrant with creamy cheese sauce. The fillings were nicely smooth with mushroom hints. However, the sauce was on the salty side.

squid ink pasta with seafood

with prawns, squids and scallops chunks

The squid ink pasta was done al-dente, with just the right amount of sauce that nicely coated the noodles and seafood. The seafood was fresh and bouncy to the bite.

a slice of pizza

We ordered a 13 inch pizza, and it was nicely crunchy. However, a friend commented that it tasted like it had been in the oven a few seconds too long. Nice but nothing to shout about. I liked the squid ink pasta best.

This meal (inclusive of drinks and taxes) should be about less than $90 and fed 4 pax.

Akashi @ Vivocity

Located at B2 of Vivocity. Visited during lunch time and there were ample seats available. As this was our first visit, we took some time to pore over the menu.

have some green tea while deciding what to order

We ordered gyu teriyaki, sukiyaki set and umi tsuki don set. The sets here means it's going to be served with rice and fruits. In Chinese restaurants, they will serve peanuts while here at Akashi, they served us edamame (chargeable @$2).

edamame

The food arrived fairly quickly and the first to reach our table was the pan-fried beef teriyaki.

beautiful gyu teriyaki ala-carte

Served with cabbage shreds. The teriyaki beef was nicely pink in the middle, slightly chewy and the middle pieces were really tender. Nice texture, and tasted good especially when the sauce gets absorbed by the crispy outerpart. There is also a drizzle of plum sauce on the cabbage so overall you will get plenty of taste from this dish.

yummy beef!

My friend had the umi tsuki don set and it looked delectable. It is basically fresh seafood sashimi on rice. There were maguro, salmon, tako, avocado and tamago cubes. Served with miso soup, salad (shredded cabbage) and fruits.

umi tsuki don set

close up view

Tried the maguro, salmon and tako cubes. Fresh and firm. Just remember to go easy on the wasabi! And finally, the sukiyaki set.

sukiyaki set

beef slices

The sukiyaki pot has chockfuls of ingredients. Huge amount of wongbok simmered in the soup, some leafy greens, substantial pieces of tofu, a handful of japanese tang hoon and many many slices of beef! The beef slices were tender (if it is not left in  the pot for too long) especially those with a bit of fats on them. The soup was sweet and flavourful.

The service was efficient and green tea topped up regularly. This lunch is a birthday treat from my colleague, so thanks to Cathy. Otherwise, it will cost about $33 per pax, with the umi tsuki don set being the priciest at $25++. Between lunch and dinner, the same sets have a pricing difference between $3 to $5.

Spicy Thai Thai Restaurant @ Dickson Road

Located next to the Wanderlust Hotel, somewhere along Dickson Road. If you see Jalan Besar, Dunlop St. then this place is nearby.

signboard

The place looks abit dingy and we dined at the back alley. The lady who came to take our orders was friendly and helpful, plus conversant in Mandarin too.

menu

Decided to go for their Thai steamboat bbq combo, and ordered a small tom yam clear soup, pineapple rice, spicy mini wings and fried kai lan. The place looked quite busy with many diners, and the helpful lady did warn us that we might need to wait a bit for the food but nevertheless, not too long. Like any other hawker centre, payment for drinks is expected once the drinks are delivered to the table.

green and red sauce

The green dipping sauce was quite spicy while the red sauce was sweet and also a tad salty. So use it sparingly, I'd say.

charcoal fired shallow pot for steamboat and bbq

steamboating the vege and bbq'ing the meats

The steamboat set consists of vegetables such as wong bok, kangkong and cilantro. It also has tang hoon (vermicelli) and an egg. The meat plate has many fatty mini lard cubes to oil the pot/stove. This set has pork done two cuts. One streaky fats and the other lean meat type. It also came with some squids and small prawns (de-shelled). Quite fun to cook and sometimes need to 'rescue' the meats out of the soup.

tom yam clear soup

stir fried kai lan

pineapple rice

closer view of pineapple rice

mini spicy wings

tiny wings

The tom yam soup was spicy but shiok because the heat doesn't stay on your tongue as it dissipates after a while. Not much ingredients in it though. The pineapple rice was sweeter than any of the pineapple rice that I had tasted so far in Singapore and has loads of cashew nuts in it. The mini spicy wings looked interesting and it was really tiny. It was dry, has a nice lemongrass flavour, adequately spiced and very tasty. Goes well with beer, perhaps.

at the end of the meal, the pot looked like this..

We paid $65 for the food and it fed 4 pax.