Hai Di Lao Hot Pot 海底捞火锅 @ Clarke Quay

Located at Level 2, Block D of Clarke Quay, this building is actually pretty near the directory board and the bridge. Glance towards the opposite side, one will see Merchant Court Swissotel and Riverside Point.

Block D

To get to Level 2, take the lift. And once the door opens, the staff will greet and then assign the queue ticket to you.

queue ticket machine beside the lift

queue ticket

After which, feel free to roam around Clarke Quay till the staff gives a phone call. Then, head back to Hai Di Lao and wait at its waiting area. Yup, double wait.

waiting for dinner

beer @ 7pm

The phone call came around 8pm and the staff advised us to be back at the shop so that they could assign a table for us. When queried if they could give us a call when a table is genuinely ready, as I explained that we were nearby and could get back in just 2 minutes, there were hem and haws. She couldn't give a straight answer, but just repeated her request for us to be back and to physically wait at the restaurant. Ohhkay...

sour plum

first snack tray @8.15pm

Waited for another half-hour at the shop's waiting area and the answer was the same, "We're preparing the table for you..." Then, the staff suggested for us to order first while waiting. Ohhkay...

2 hours after getting queue ticket, and still no table in sight

after multiple refills of self-serve popcorn, and still waiting @8.50pm

With just a few minutes to 9pm, we were finally led inside to be seated.

wam hand towel

Went to check out the sauces while the staff prepares our orders.

an array of sauces, condiments, fruits and desserts

self-assembled sauce of sesame paste, sesame oil, seafood sauce, korean chili sauce and vinegar @$4++

double flavour hotpot (chicken and mala)

Friend whom suggested the place, did the ordering. Abundance of food! Chicken, lamb, beef, fish, seafood, vegetables, mushrooms and carb. Yup, got almost everything.

pork slices

squid with spinach paste, fish balls, crab balls and fish paste

beef slices and grouper

Needed to wait for the soup to boil, so munched down on fried fish skin as snacks.

fried fish skin

Thirsty, have some liang teh or watermelon juice.

watermelon juice in a jug

The watermelon juice was unsweetened. The sour plum was pretty diluted but my friends quite liked the herbal tea (凉茶).

chicken soup

ladle of soup

chicken soup to soothe the tummy

Staff helped to ladle the unadulterated chicken soup for us to taste. If you had indicated you'd like 葱花香菜，then the bowl of soup shall be heaped aplenty of those. Chicken soup was tasty and homely.

beautiful platter of fatty beef (肥牛) and lamb (right)

One of the orders was a platter of mixed meat; fatty beef and lamb. Pretty hard to differentiate one from the other though which presented a problem as the table had one who don't take beef and another who can't stand the gamey smell of lamb.

The fatty beef is recommended. Tender slices that cooks in seconds. Lamb slices retained its slight gamey taste but its texture was good. Dip it into the spicy broth (麻辣), and it is immediately coated with a lovely fragrance of the peppercorns. Just be careful not to bite into any of those tiny peppers. The tongue tip will be tingly numb!

tender beef slice

Friend requested for the staff to help us mix a bowl of sauces. The bowl came back with dried ingredients and we were advised to add a little bit of the broth into it. Has a peanuty and meaty flavour and goes well with all meats.

more authentically mixed sauce?

The seafood that we had were all fresh. Grouper, pomfret, scallops and prawns were all quite yummy. Realised that grouper can be left simmering in the broth and still taste nice. Yums.

pomfret

scallops

Loved the big juicy sweet scallops! For leafy intakes, we had tang-o 茼蒿 (crown daisy) and chinese cabbage (白菜). Cabbage was good in absorbing the soup, so better to have it in the chicken soup as opposed to boiling it in the oily spicy broth.

red pot makes leafy greens look so delicious

For prawns, the staff will ask if you require it to be deshelled. Lazy us said yes.

fresh looking prawns

cooked just right

Once in a while, the service staff will come by to top up on the soup.

加汤吗？

Our tummies were already straining, and we have yet to start on the mushroom platter.

mushroom platter in da pot

Not forgetting, our BYO cakes slices for the birthday girls which was temporarily kept in HDL fridge since 6+pm...

tag for easy retrieval, but they still had some trouble finding the cakes

Could barely eat anymore, but still persisted for the homemade noodles. Main reason was to watch the performance of the 'Noodle Ambassador'. Gimmicky and entertaining.

twirling the noodles

dance completed, noodles ready

The noodles is unlike ramen as it is much broader. More like 板条 (flat noodles). The spicy broth gets super salty towards the end after much boiling, hence the noodles are best cooked in chicken broth.

Till date, am not able to fathom on what exactly is the attraction of this place. Service was good but would one wants to wait 2 hours to dine here? From the crowd that thronged this place, no one seemed to mind.

Spent about $60 per pax for the meal.

Five & Dime @ River Valley Road

This place has been around for quite some time now. Visited on a Friday night, past 930pm and people were still waiting outside for a table. Mainly because its upstairs section are closed by then. Though dinner menu had ended, a couple of tables were still willing to wait about 20 minutes to half hour for supper menu which starts at 10pm. Parking is available.

menu

Shop is small and packed. Service crew young, friendly and bright. Customers are youthful, and perhaps only one out of five would be above 40 years old? Quite an attractive crowd. Atmosphere was vibrant as the noise gets trapped in such small space. But that's alright, since most were minding our own business and carried on with our own thing.

while waiting for a table...

coffee machinery, liquors and flavours

chalkboard

Supper menu only has a couple of items, so decisions were made pretty fast. A bowl of soba, some fries, beef cubes and drinks.

table seats

One could opt for a bar counter seat, as the wait for those would probably be 10 minutes less than waiting for a table.

finally seated

First up, chips with rosemary sea-salt. The word 'chips' had conjured up an expectation of chunky fries. Either that, or really thin sliced potato crisp.

Though it was just regular fries, this bunch was quite enjoyable as its outer shell remained crips. Pretty salty so have it with a drink, or dabs of ketchup to balance (well sort-of).

chips @$7++ with ketchup

What to drink?

old school

Ordered the Garden Gnome cocktail. Again, the word 'garden' conjured up an image of a mojito-like drink. Moreover, this one was rum-based too!

Garden Gnome @$16++, no greens though

Tasted pretty much like lemon-juice, with a dash of alcohol. Probably two teaspoon more of Bacardi rum would be good.

Bailey's based cocktail with coffee and milk foam

Friend's drink was milky and predominantly coffee. Likeable though she found it a tad too sweet.

Do not drink on an empty stomach, so we had food.

koro koro beef cubes @$12++

The beef cubes were marinated. Tasted strongly of herbs. Was that oregano? And there was soy-sauce in it, I think and topped with garlic bits. Asian-style. Beef was chewy but not overly so.

soba noodle soup with duck slices @$12++

As with supper, one would want to whip things up pretty quickly. Looked like this bowl was it. Anything warm on a hungry tummy, would be comforting.

Wanted a bit more variety, so tried their popular lava chocolate cake with salted egg yolk center. This dessert came out in a dim sum basket so that was pretty fun.

lava cake with salted egg custard @$12++

golden salted egg lava

Served piping hot, so be careful when biting down on the cake. Salted egg yolk custard was extremely flowy and because this is a dense cake instead of a bun, there was nothing to soak up the sauce. Good to be shared amongst 3 pax.

cup of good 'ol flat white

Coffee served in a blazing red teacup? Yes, I'll have one. Not too acidic, just the perfect nightcap.

Expect to pay between $40 to $50 per pax.

Spizza @ Balmoral Plaza

Located at Balmoral Plaza, Bukit Timah Road. This outlet is at the corner. Many a times, we turned away because the place was crowded. Tried our luck again on a weekday about 730pm, and it was pretty relaxed.

Sat at its alfresco area where we enjoyed the evening breeze.

outdoor area

Already knew what my dining companion would order and true enough, we had pizza Isabella (parma ham with rocket leaves). Still remembered my first Spizza ala delivery and she ordered this for us as well. A perennial favourite.

For starters, had the calamari.

deep fried calamari @$13++

The spicy 'Pizzaiolo' dip was well...really wasn't spicy. Not at all. It was just tangy. Calamari was tender and the batter was barely seasoned. Liked the big round pieces of the calamari.

For drinks, one shall not resist a 1-for-1 on sparkling wine; Italian prosecco. Quite enjoyable this prosecco. Tiny bubbles and easy to drink.

Val d'Oca Prosecco

Liked the loads of rocket leaves. Pizza crust was not too thick, and best eaten (for me anyways!) folded with the ingredients all rolled up. Salty with some chewyness. Goes quite well with the dry prosecco. Medium sized pizza is 10 inch while large pizza is 12 inch width.

(M) Isabella @$20++

For desserts, we tried the tiramisu. Not too sweet.

tiramisu @$8.50++

Staff were friendly and generous. Gave us enough space between service, hence the overall mood was pretty relaxed.

Expect to pay about $35 per pax for a meal.

There is a credit card promotion for AMEX Platinum, so do enquire as it gives a discount off the total bill (excluding alcoholic drinks).

Tanabata Festival (七夕) @ Liang Court River Valley

Celebrated once a year on the 7th day of the 7th month, Tanabata is also known as Japanese Star Festival, where two star-crossed lovers separated by the milky way, reunite. The festival was imported to Japan by Empress Kōken (孝謙天皇) and it gained popularity till date. In Japan, people will write on strips of paper and wish for good fortune during this day.

And for the very first time, Liang Court is bringing this cultural festival to Singapore!

Tanabata

At Liang Court, now we too can write our wishes on Tanzaku strips, and hang them on bamboo branches. Hopefully, the celestial lovers could make them come true!

write your wishes

may your wish be granted

For kids, there are fun traditional games specifically shipped in for Japanese Summer Fair by Meidi-Ya Supermarket. For example, Yoyo Fishing, Ball Scooping and 1000 Strings.

mini carnival games area

scoop tiny balls instead of guppies

try your luck with 1000 strings

There's also a showcase of Saga Prefecture rice and vegetables. Saga-gyu I've heard, so today am acquainted with Sagabiyori rice and greens.

Sagabiyori rice

mochi tools

carrots, cabbage (はくさい)

kabocha (カボチャ)

Other than that, there is also a booth by Be Movement Singapore, a social enterprise that amongst others, publishes books and hold fairs to raise awareness of social causes from a global perspective. 

Be Movement's Japan Issue

trinkets handmade by elderly and low income families

If you're at the main Atrium, don't forget to drop by Katana-e Kicho 刀絵帰蝶 by Ms Nalu Miyamoto. She uses the Katana, precision cutting blades, to create intrincate and detailed paper art.

Katanae Art Display and Demonstration by Ms Nalu Miyamoto

Had a chance to chat with Miyamoto-san, and she shared that her creations have background stories, for example Japanese folklore like the Crane Wife (Tsuru Nyōbō).

Tsuru Nyōbō 鶴女房

Like a painting, am appreciative to the fact that the paper pattern was carved out, bit by bit by hand using the small sword. Its final form is such a beauty.

delicate yet with a sense of strength

If you're shopping at Liang Court and spends above $100, then don't miss the opportunity to redeem a Miyamoto-san's creation, while stocks last! She will be in town till 10 July only.

どうもありがとうございました、すきです！

And if you're spending $150 and above ($250 for Meidi-Ya and Audio House) There's also an exclusive couple-set pillows to redeem till 10 Aug.This week's design till 10 July is Cosmic Love.

reuniting on Tanabata

Remember Liang Court Signature Food Trail? Well, it's back!

food trail

Get your coupons for just $40, and use it on Mondays to Thursdays to enjoy a pre-set first meal, and then choose the remaining of the 2 sets from any of the 25 participating outlets. Oh, there's a free beer from Thirsty - Craft Beer Shop, plus choose one quick bite out of 5 choices. Wow.

food trail coupon

Not forgetting, 7 July is also Machicon date. Buy tickets here.

To end the evening, here's a bottle of Thatchers Green Goblin (@$9.70) from Thirsty.

cheers