Melt - The World Cafe @ Mandarin Oriental

Located at Level 4 of Mandarin Oriental at Raffles Blvd, Marina Square. Friend said he wanted to do a research on buffet, hence I got a free meal. Yay!

Buffet for adults are priced @$68++ per pax on weekdays. Lunch is from 1130am to 230pm.

interior

Buffet drinks include juices only. The juice counter is located at the dessert section. There were orange, guava (green and pink), grapefruit, mango and fruit punch.

tiny glasses for juice

As usual, started with cold seafood. No oysters nor crabs though. =(

white fish sashimi, scallop sushi and maguro sashimi

clams, prawns, mussels, small scallops in shell

Enjoyed the prawns. Firm flesh and sweetish meat. Yums.

For bread lovers, no worries. Took some pictures of what's available although bread is not one of the items that I'd take when having buffet.

selection of bread

dips

cold cuts

Next, took some crackers from the Thai food section to munch. Also tried baked salmon, chicken tandoori and lamb skewer.

baked salmon with some tubers, crackers with thai chili sauce, chicken tandoori and lamb

The baked salmon was still pinkish and thankfully, not dried out. The tandoori item was so-so.

baked salmon

crispy fish skin for snacks

There was a section where it has more European influence dishes such as duck confit, lamb stew, oxtail stew and seafood stew.

stews, sauteed vege and soups

Tried the seafood stew which had plenty of mussels and squid. Didn't have the seafood umami and it was rather salty.

Decided to get some salad for the daily greens intake.

cucumber tomato salad (at the back). feta cheese, smoked salmon

my plate of greens, well...sort of

The Thai beef salad was kinda salty (and tasted heavily of fish sauce), cucumber tomato salad was nice, the minced crab with fish roe was really good as well. Smoked salmon was abit too thick.

Can't believe that I only had 2 prawns so went back and took some more.

succulent fresh prawns

Had 3 more of those babies while friend devoured the rest. Service staff was attentive and she brought out a bowl of warm water with lemon for us.Thanks to her, our fingers were lemony and clean after that! =)

Had 4 glasses of juice, and I like orange the best. Grapefruit was good to digest the food as it was sourish.

Desserts for finale.

chocolate fountain with marshmallows and fruit sticks nearby

cakes galore

chestful of sweet delights

My loot.

petit six - blackcurrant macaron, financier, raspberry velvet cake, coconut pandan, tapioca kueh, forgot the name but it was super-sweet dessert

The raspberry red velvet cake and coconut tapioca were really nice. Soft, cakey and not overly sweet.

banana panna cotta

The banana panna cotta has a really strong banana taste. Sweet on its own but its sugary high was evened out with the blueberries.

Service was efficient and the staff would come and clear the plates every so often.

Didn't eat alot but was seriously full after that. Thank you for the lunch treat!

Sumiya Charcoal Grill Izakaya @ Orchard Central

Located at Level 12 of Orchard Central. Took the lift to Level 11 and then have to take the escalator to the next level. Reservations via TableDB was conveniently fast.

Visited on a weekday for dinner and it was rather quiet. Got a table with high chair by the window.

interior

view from our table

Their staff was subtly attentive. We were looking quite unsure on whether to put our bags onto the next chair when one female staff quickly descended upon us to offer her help. There's actually a hook underneath the table for light weight bags. Having understood that we are not able to hook the laptop, she requested for another staff to bring us the bag stool. Good service, and customer centric. Nice.

not Asahi Shimbun but Sumiya's paper menu

Having gone through their online menu, it was easy to quickly order our food. But before that, let's quench thirst with a small mug of ice cold beer.

Asahi Draft @$4.90++ (Happy Hour till 8pm)

Let's have potato salad to start. Andy must've quite a sense of humour. What's with the cutesy cherry tomatoes'eyes'? There's the usual hard-boiled egg, mayo, mashed potato and juliened raw onions and cucumbers.

Andy's Potato Salad @$4.50++

For main course, friend ordered the unagi rice which can be enjoyed two ways; as it is and with the dashi added so that it becomes like ochazuke.

Unagi Hitsumabushi @$15++

Portion was smallish, so no worries. One pax can finish it all and still have room for beer. The soup was really light and preferably eaten while still hot.Some wasabi for that bit of a kick! Rice was abit hard though.

with dashi

Also tried the fatty pork yakitori. Too much radish piled onto it. Would've been better if there was more meat. Otherwise, quite interesting texture.

Taki san's fatty pork yakitori @$6++

And the dish that took the longest to arrive, was the grilled salmon collar. Was ok, mildly seasoned.

grilled salmon kama @$9++

Every $50 spent will get a chop on the rewards card. Expect to spend about $30 per pax.

Thank you my friend, for the early birthday treat!

Miam MIam @ Westgate Jurong East

Located at Level 1 of Westgate. Patronised mostly because wanted to see what's the hype is about.

That day was hot and humid, and we were told that the only seats left for 2 pax, was its outdoor seats. Ok, no problem. Just that, 5 minutes later, my friend commented that he saw a couple whom was ushered inside the restaurant. Hmm, perhaps someone exited? I offered an explanation. Not a chance, he said. And, of course he has a better view of the ongoings since my back was to the entrance. Oh well.

menu

tick your orders

 Menu states minestrone and clam chowder. Order chit states Soup A and Soup B. So I thought Soup B was clam chowder. Apparently, I was wrong again. The waitress said, "Ma'am, Soup B is minestrone. Is that ok?" I said, "Oh, then Soup A is clam chowder?" She smiled and said, "We only have minestrone today." Cool.

minestrone @$5.80++

The small bowl minestrone was not bad. Tangy and light. The bread was likeable too. More butter will be better. Or garlic spread.

Oh, water is chargeable here @50cents++ per glass. Good news. It is refillable.

Souffle Au Curry @$15.50++

spoonful of rice

Ingredients inside the curry souffle was minimalistic. A broccoli at each end. Frankfurter chunks lining its sides, and laying still amongst it all was the heavy japanese rice coated with curry, onions and carrots. Quite a bit of rice. Moist but this is just not my thing. Luckily, it was friend's order.

And, it turns out. Chocolate was not his thing too. So I got the whole valrhona chocolate souffle all for myself.

valrhona chocolate souffle @$13.80++

what you see is what you get

Literally. The molten chocolate that is seen in the picture. Well, that's about it. Inside, it's just chocolate souffle. Souffle that's a tad watery inside.

All food are served piping hot. Though am not impressed, this place does have its fans. Evidently from the weekend crowd.

This meal costs about $42 for 2 pax.

Xin Mei Le Bak Kut Teh 新美乐肉骨茶 @ Tanjong Pagar Road

Amongst rows and rows of Korean eateries and drinking places, found this little bak kut teh shop. Seemed like some Taiwanese celebrities had tried it before, as there are photo evidences plastered at its front door.

menu

The service crew is young and polite. And there was just this other table occupied as we were there early. Like around 6pm on a weekend. The place is airconditioned and provided a cooling respite from the hot and humid air outside.

interior

Was in the mood for braised pork knuckles 卤猪脚, so got a bowl of that plus a bowl of regular pork ribs soup. Stir-fried vege was kinda pricey for a small portion, so got ourselves a bowl of soupy tang-o.

Food was delivered pretty fast, except for the tang-o.

dinner

The you tiao 油条 (fried dough fritters @$1.20+) was bad. It tasted heavily of stale oil so we left it untouched after one piece.

Thankfully, the rest of the food was alright. The tang-o portion was little (@$3+) but adequate for the price. The pork ribs was nicely tender and with fiery peppery soup with herbal aftertaste. It was like teochew styled bak kut teh with a hint of hokkien.

original pork ribs bak kut teh (@$7.80+)

Soup refill is free but probably not a good idea to drink too much. Not too sure if it had MSG but felt rather thirsty after that.

Quite liked the braised pork knuckles. Adequately braised with sauce permeated into the meat. Yums. Good to drizzle over the white rice (@$0.60+ per bowl).

braised pork knuckles (@$7.80+)

Dinner for 2 costs about $27.

Au Chocolat Bistro @ Marina Bay Sands

Located at Level 1 of MBS (Marina Bay Sands). It can be seen from the Rasapura Food Court if one looked upwards.

chalk board

Was there for brunch before going to the ArtScience Museum. Water is chargeable with choice of sparkling or still. Got ourselves coffee instead.

black coffee @ $6++

seats

nice ceiling

For food, friend had the duck confit while I opted for the King's Breakfast.

duck confit @ $28++

Duck confit was served with mashed potato, pear, baby carrots and wilted spinach. It was not too salty.

King's Breakfast @$26++

Mine consist of scrambled eggs with black truffle, cherry tomatoes, brioche, crispy bacon, sausages, smoked salmon, avocado and tater tots, served with Lurpak butter. The tater tots (hash brown) was nicely crispy and not too oily.

The meal costs about $38 per pax.