Asian Kitchen Lu Gang Xiao Zhen (鹿港小鎮) @ ION Orchard

Located at B3 of ION Orchard. Small and compact place but still managed to walk-in without reservations despite the other restaurants at B2 needing to queue for at least half hour.

menu

Was in a group of four, so we ordered some dishes to go along with steamed rice. Ordered a medium portion of 'guitar' duck (original flavour). What's a 'guitar' duck? Apparently, it meant 'pipa' (琵琶). Anyway, it's roasted duck. Other dishes that we called were the four season beans with salted egg, deep fried beancurd with some vegetables, a'reunion' omelette and sweet and sour pork. All the rest of the dishes (except the duck) came in small portion.

This place serves ice water. To order, just write it down on the order chit, and pass it to the service staff. Someone will then come over and recite the order once again for confirmation.

chili condiments (not very spicy)

guitar duck (medium)

tender meat

The duck was nicely tender and not gamey. The medium portion is good for four pax.

french beans with salted egg

tiny chili padi's lurking, so be careful

tofu with some vege

looks healthy

sweet and sour pork

closer view

reunion omelette

got prawns and taiwanese sausages underneath

The dishes were enjoyable. The 'reunion' omelette were really thin and it had fresh prawns (just slightly cooked) hidden inside. Seasoning was agreeable to our tastebuds, and somehow the portion worked for the four of us (three ladies and one guy). But then, our guy friend needed an extra bowl of rice.

It's fuss free dinner (without having to queue too long for seats), pleasant tasting food and quick service.

Paid about $76 for all the above (inclusive taxes and drinks: 2 evians, and iced milk tea and soya bean).

Akashi @ Vivocity (Part II)

Located at B2 of Vivocity, this is a restaurant that I've visited quite often and mostly for lunch. Most of the lunch sets have increased its prices by a dollar since first visit (sometime in May). What used to be $15++ is now $16++, previously $12++ is now $13++.

Recent visit saw my friends ordering appetisers from the ala-carte menu. We tried the deep fried white bait, and a pork dish.

whitebait

very crispy whitebaits

pork with miso sauce

tasty thin slivers

As usual, the ala-carte prices are on the higher side. For vegetarians, there is not much choice here. We were informed that the sauce for soba and tempura has cuttlefish mixed in it. So, in the end, one of my friend who is a vegetarian, took the yasai tempura (ala-carte order) and one white rice. Thank you to the friendly service staff who explained to us which dishes that might work for diners with special dietary needs.

udon set lunch (quite a big pot, with poached egg that still has runny yolk!)

For me, I'd take either the gyu teriyaki or the chicken wakadori set lunch. Noticed that the gyu (beef) teriyaki doneness seem inconsistent. Sometimes, it was nicely medium rare, other times it was done medium or medium well.

chicken wakadori set (@$16++)

clear soup

yummy juicy chicken

Liked the copious amount of shredded cabbage (drizzled lightly with plum sauce) that came with most of the sets.

The Tastings Room @ Marina Square

Located at Level 1 of Marina Square, at the road level (small lane between Raffles Link and Marina Square). Bought the Groupon voucher, so needed to utilise it before end of the year.

wine menu

indoor seats

set meals

The voucher (priced @$39 nett per pax) entitles for a 3-Course Meal + 110ml glass of Drotsdy Hof Cape 2010 Red Wine. Only 2 choices available, so we tried both.

For starters, we had the Seafood Smoked Vine Tomato Soup and the Prosciutto de Parma with Texture of Melon.

Seafood Smoked Vine Tomato Soup

has a slice of fish, a prawn and a squid ring

The soup was pretty sour and robust. Certainly wakes the taste buds up! Tasty and seafood was fresh.

a dash of pepper for the soup

Prosciutto de Parma with Texture of Melon

loved the drizzling of balsamic vinegar

Liked the rocket leaves, melon and prosciutto. Gladly ate all the greens! The melon wasn't that sweet though. But am not sure whether this portion is the same size for ala-carte starters. If yes, then $17.90++ seemed like a high price to pay for this portion.

Service crew was friendly but somehow lacking still. Our wine went missing and didn't appear till half hour later, and that was after reminding the staff about it. The interval between the starters and main course were about 39 minutes apart.

red wine

The wine was drinkable, not too spicy and not too tannic. Nice. The 110ml drinking portion seemed quite little. Hahaa, more wine please.

After quite a wait for the main courses, was feeling rather famished.

18-hours slow braised beef cheek

nice cheeks

duck confit

The beef cheek is nicely tender. Liked the parts with abit of fats. Flavour was good, and fully absorbed into the meat. The duck confit was served with mashed potatoes, french beans, peach slices and dried cranberries. Yummy and doesn't feel oily at all. However, the beef cheek had stronger flavours so that became my favourite for the mains.

For desserts, we had the Tiramisu and the Mango Jivara Mousse Cake.

Mango Jivara Mousse Cake

Tiramisu

The dessert portion was also small. The Tiramisu turned out to be sponge cake layered with ice-cream. So, it's like eating ice-cream cake. Preferred the Mango Jivara Mousse Cake. Subtle mango flavour on moist cake.

Perhaps their usual Set B (@$38++) would be more enticing if diners can choose their own starters, mains and desserts that are not limited to just 2 options.