Located at Level 1 of Oasia Hotel, Novena. Lunch buffet on a working day? Yup, that's right. Food coma, thereafter. In terms of variety, it is lacking but there're still some good eats here.
Asian themed, so one would find roasted chicken/duck, laksa, fried rice, stir fried vege, sweet and sour pork, watercress soup, and a touch of western with baked salmon. Over at the appetisers section, there's kueh pie tee and smoked duck mini buns. Plenty of salads, and some variety for desserts.
let the buffet begins!
Started with some beet salad and small bites. Don't forget to add condiments to your salad, if you'd like. There's olives, seeds, cheese etc.
chicken salad, leaves and beans
mini smoked duck buns
beet salad, DIY kueh pie tee and smoked duck bun
This is the first time I'd eaten beet cubes. As a drink, it was ok. In its solid form, there's a certain rawness and subtle sweetness to it. Kueh pie tee was good. Crispy sweet shell, loaded with tasty turnip shreds, topped with a shrimp with a dash of chili. While stocks last. Come to think of it, how come I only ate one!
There's also a DIY laksa station. It was good. Not spicy but tasted fragrant and luscious with coconut milk.
DIY laksa, with quail egg, sprouts and sliced fish cake
For drinks, it was limited choices of only coffee/tea/water. No juice. I think if there's juice, even bottled ones would address a bit of customer's expectation of a buffet.
the roasts - pork, root vege, duck and chicken
Gosh, just realised that I didn't try the duck. Bummer. But the roasted pork was good. Crispy crackling skin. But too much meat though.
pork and stir fried cauliflower and broccoli
mayonaise deep fried chicken
My dad would approve of the mayo fried chicken. He's into all sorts of mayo now.
chicken fried rice with silver fish
Though there are no standout items, I had enjoyed the watercress soup, roasted pork and baked salmon. Kueh pie tee and laksa are recommended, just a little hassle to put the ingredients together.
Located at Level 7 of Orchard Central. This casual hotpot restaurant is considered quite new in Singapore. However, the Shi Li Fang brand is not a stranger in Beijing F&B industry. Established in 2009 and it has grown to 20 outlets in Beijing since then!
store front
The vibe is very casual. Not a problem if you like your hotpot all for yourself as this place offers individual pot, as well as bigger pots for groups. Single pax diner would feel right at home here.
interior
menu
Really spoilt for choice with as many as 6 soup bases, and there's option for double, triple and quadruple-flavoured pots. Prices of soup bases are from $3.60++ (per pax) to $11.80++ (per pot).
The usual mala (麻辣) soup is available. Psst....it's not very spicy by default, so you could opt to notch-up the heat by requesting it to be spicier.
My choice was e a double-flavoured pot of fish soup and tonic chicken soup.
induction cooking
(from left) chicken soup and fish soup
If you had felt indignant over hotpot outlets that charges for dipping sauces, there's no such problem here as its dipping sauces are free of charge (免费调料自选).
take as much or as little as you need
Prices of drinks is less than a dollar per cup, and canned drinks starts from $1.50++.
90cents drinks: water chestnut, lemon tea, lime and barley
This restaurant serves up non-buffet style hotpot experience. Shi Li Fang also offers sets, which comes with vegetable platter and a choice of noodles. All sets are priced at less than $20. Plenty of choices, from crabmeat to beef/chicken/pork set, as well as mushroom/vegetable sets.
chopstick, wet tissue, ladle and spoon - all ready
sesame paste with oyster sauce and plenty of spring onions
Didn't get anything from the set items. Instead, went ala-carte. Got myself a plate of baby cabbage (or also known as nai-bai 奶白菜) The portion that came was actually quite a good for single-pax. Vegetables are priced at $3.50 for two items combo. Nice.
奶白菜 nai bai (baby cabbage)
Beancurd and fish skin are two items that I'd recommend. The fish skin here was best suited to be boiled in the soup. After boiling and absorbing some liquid, the skin became a delectable chewy collageny mass. Tofu, was so silky smooth and soft. Double yums.
beancurd (豆腐) and fish skin (鱼皮) @$3.50++
Very seldom one sees fresh eel offered as hotpot item, so ordered half portion to try. Tiny slices and once cooked, it retained some chewiness and slight crunch. Think I still liked grilled ones best!
fresh eel 鲜鳝鱼 @$5.80++ half portion
Ordered a portion of premium beef, and it was actually quite a lot for one pax. Good for sharing.
premium beef @$16.80++
pork belly @$5.20++ per portion
Pork belly looked as though it was more suited for grilling, than in a hotpot. Much preferred the beef slices.
Had never thought that marinated meats could also be one of the hotpot items. A recommended-try here is the Shi Li Fang Specialty Chicken. Was pretty fascinated when the chicken remained tender even after boiling it in the soup, like forever. And its marinade/spices can still be tasted distinctly. Amazing.
Shi Li Fang Specialty Chicken @$5.80++
For carbs, we ordered its handmade noodles. What we got was two flattened strips of dough. 'Handmade' means diners will have to 'make' the noodles, themselves.
Simply take the disposable gloves out and wear it. Take the ends of the dough on each hand and start pulling in opposite direction while gently swing the wrist up and down.
pull and move wrist up and down
Then just slide the one long noodle into the pot. Tasted smooth and good, if it was pulled thin enough. Otherwise, can be eaten just like mee hoon kway (面粉粿).
cooked
some say the egg noodles was good
The chicken soup base was tastier but it was also pretty oily. Fish soup was light on the palate and suitable to cook all sorts of meats or vegetables in it.
Was extremely easy to go overboard when ordering ala-carte. One portion of vege and meat, was already enough to feed one pax.
For those who still like to share a pot, the option is still available.
with big pot with 4 soup bases
Something unique was also spotted in the restaurant. A traditional looking basin with handles. Hmm... It's actually a spouting basin, or also known as fish basin (鱼洗).
spouting basin
Quite fun. You may want to try it. Wet your hands first before rubbing on the handles. Here's a video of when water droplets starts to jump.
Thank you HGW for the invite and Shi Li Fang for hosting the dinner.
promo of 50% off all seafood and meat items, ends on 30 Sept 2014
For those in Orchard Central vicinity during lunch hour, you might want to drop by this place as set lunches are priced at $9.90++ only.
If you are adverse to good deals, please go no further.
If you do not want to save $$, please stop here.
If you do not dine in cafes or restaurants, please close the browser.
Right. Do read on.
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Well, how about a chic restaurant at Duxton Hill for contemporary Indian cuisine? Introducing Saha Signature Indian Restaurant & Terrace Bar @ 9A Duxton Hill (2nd floor, because 1st floor is Buyan, a Russian dining place).
Why Saha? Because it is running a time limited 2-for-2 indian tapas promotion when one uses The Entertainer voucher.
Promo @ Saha
The restaurant is very near the public car park at Duxton Hill. Look out for its blue sign-board.
you've arrived
up to second floor
Let's take a look at some of the Indian tapas in tasting portions.
The chickpeas were pretty prominent in this dish. One mouthful and its gone. Nice presentation.
Top: Baked Samosas Triangle [Vegetarian] - Potato, cashew and green peas filling, chutney foam
This must be the flakiest samosas that I've ever tried thus far. Baked and not deep fried. Healthier and equally as tasty.
For drinks, I'd like to have a cocktail please, and they have plenty.
Indian Mojito
Easy to drink, refreshing but not overly on the leaves. Sweet but not too sweet.
There's an interesting mocktail where its infused with cigar smoke. Yep, you read it right. Cuban cigar smoke! This drink is a varietal of Bloody Mary. Abit too funky for me though.
jar of mystery - can you see the smoke?
Back to more tapas. Pashmina chicken. Subtle flavours, moist tender chicken.
Saha is helmed by Chef & Chef Patron Abhijit Saha, who holds the prestigious title of ‘The Best Chef of India’ 2013, brings forth regional Indian cuisine with modern cooking techniques and presentation. Expects a blend of traditional and modern, executed with sophistication.
All the mingling and chatting made me thirsty. Time for another drink. A visit to the bar!
Cryo Pomergranate Margarita
Loved the strong margarita. Quite yums, especially with the salt. More please!
If you can only have one tapas, make sure you try the Prawn Milagu Roast. Fresh firm succulent prawns, lovely strong flavours. Goes well with cocktails.
One last drink, the Compressed Watermelon Martini. Another yummy drink. Premium ingredients, sweet and refreshing. Watermelon with salt is always good. Nice and cool for a humid warm evening.
Compressed Watermelon Martini, with sea-salt foam
So hurry down to Saha to redeem the 2-for-2 Indian tapas before 1 October 2014! With the savings, you might want to get one cocktail (or two), from the bar. Cheers!
All these, shall be possible with 'The Entertainer Singapore One Month Mobile' downloadable from here and apply this code: @purpleeats
Located at basement level, next to Isetan. Usually popular, and a queue at cashier is common. A quick look-around revealed that the shop seemed to have more sweets as compared to savouries. Had tried their mini-cheese cakes and caneles and those are expectedly sweet.
Recently tried the butter melon pan and onion bread @$2.60 each.
melon pan
Hmm, I think melon pan is similar to polo bun and mexican bun. Much prefer the onion bread. It's not actually called onion bread but I can't recall what was its actual label.
bread unwrapped
two types of cheese
Popped the bread into toaster for a minute before eating. Totally loved the fragrance of the onions. The slightly chewy bread worked well with the cheeses. Yums.
Located at Level 2 of Novena Square. Usually packed during weekdays lunch hour. Colleague had cravings, and thus this was where we ended up lunching.
From past experience, the Ichiban Boshi's donburi are usually heavy on rice. So took a different combination this time round.
Been ages since my last sushi, so ordered two favourites: hamachi and hotate.
hamachi (yellowtail) sushi
plump and sweet scallops
Hamachi and hotate sushis are very genteel. Fish was firm and scallops were soft and sweet. Yums.
Also had a bowl of salmon soup. Soup was basically miso base and colleagues said that it tasted the same as their complimentary ones that came together with the rice sets.
salmon soup @$9.90++
fried salmon
Soup was served hot, with plenty of fried salmon chunks in it. Other ingredients included kelp, tofu and onions. Soup was soothing to the stomach. However, the chunks of fish had bones in it, so do eat with care. After a while, its taste can become quite monotonous.
This meal cost about $22 for one pax and though it doesn't looked like it, it was rather filling.
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