Yi Jia Le Seafood Delivery (一家乐煮炒外卖) & Shi Fu Ge (食福阁) @ Foodpanda

Had previously used Foodpanda, so once in a while will receive email offering discounts or vouchers. Feeling lazy one weekend, so decided to use the voucher before it expires (only valid for 3 days).

Very quickly settled on Shi Fu Ge as the delivery menu looks more manageable (aka reasonably priced and minimum order is $30 with additional $3 for delivery).

Chinese zhi char food it is, and for two pax. Assam fish head, omelette egg, salted egg yolk pork ribs and white rice. Both small portions for the omelette egg and pork ribs. Total bill was $43.50 before the use of discount voucher.

The total estimated delivery time shown online was 2 hours. Various modes available for payment. Once that's done, there should be a confirmation email for the delivery order. There will be an automated sms sent out to indicate that the restaurant had received and confirmed the order. Though the sms stated 105 minutes for delivery to arrive, the initial estimation of 2 hours was more accurate.

Previously, the experience with Indian food order was that the butter chicken that costs us $17++ came in the normal noodle soup container size. So this time round, we waited with trepidation on how the fish head will turn out. Thankfully, it arrived in a good sized round container!

'Ang kueh' assam fish head @$21

closer view of the ingredients

The assam fish gravy was really appetising. Sourish but not overly. Brinjal looked abit raw but actually pretty juicy. The fish was a tad overcooked.

salted egg pork ribs (咸蛋排骨) @$12

Hmm. For some reason I had expected pork ribs as in pork ribs with the bone-in. Haha...The pork ribs were lean and some meat was quite tough. Turned out quite oily too, otherwise the salted egg flavour is there although abit mild.

egg omelette (芙蓉蛋) @$6

The white rice portion was actually adequate per pax and came in individual styrofoam box, much like when we 'da bao' rice outside. Had ordered 3 white rice (@$0.50 each) as precaution and ended up with one extra that was kept for the next day as we couldn't finish.

Ate as much as we could, and there was enough for the next day too. The meal can actually feed 3 pax easily.

Soup Restaurant @ United Square

Located at B1 of United Square. Finding for that escalator to move downwards to basement in United Square took a bit of time.

This restaurant has a lot of secluded corners so there was that bit of privacy, though our corner actually has clear glass that outside can see. Haha!

@Soup Restaurant

typical cover charge

Dinner with two lovely ladies. Ex-colleagues that have known each other for about 7 to 8 years now? How time had passed by so quickly.

Was already 8pm, so decided on 3 dishes to share and a pot of soup.

order chit

chrysanthemum tea (sweetened and refillable)

Service was efficient. Food was delivered in quick succession and tea regularly topped up.

lotus root soup with pork ribs (medium)

For soups, one could order individual portion with various properties. For example, they have 'Healing', 'Strengthening', 'Wellness' type of soups. However, seemed like only lotus root soup has a bigger portion for sharing.

lotus root pork ribs soup (莲藕汤)

Soup was simple and flavourful. Plenty of pork ribs in the pot.

Samsui Ginger Chicken

Steamed white chicken with tender flesh. Lettuce was really sweet and crisp. Best eaten with lots of those yummy ginger. Oily, yes but it is a necessity!

leaf lettuce (油麦菜) with fried dace fish

Usually will order sweet potato leaves (番薯叶) if its in the menu. Decided on something different and friends liked it. Leaf lettuce has that slightly rough feeling but yet still gentle to eat. First time having it with fried dace fish.

hometown fried fish belly (鱼腩)

Loved the thick slices of fried fish belly. Firm and tasty with the simple sauce.

Hearty homely meal with good friends. Thank you guys!

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!