TungLok Teahouse @ Novena Square 2

Fancy dining in a space that offers a retro teahouse ambiance? TungLok Teahouse has just that. The decoration evoked a sense of nostalgia but service was rather patchy though during our visit.

menu

Prices are slightly on the higher side.

caramelized cashew nuts toasted with sesame to munch on

Ordering greens in a Chinese mid-end restaurant always seemed not to worth it. Portions would be small and priced at $12+ and above.

So, we ordered deep fried eggplant with chicken floss. Eggplant is still a vege, isn't it?

Appetiser - deep fried eggplant with chicken floss

Quite enjoyable as a snack. Yums.

The fried rice portion was kind of small and barely enough for two pax. Tasty and flavourful with the sweet scallop bits but were also rather oily.

seafood fried rice @ $26+

And were we glad that we ordered the hand-shredded fried duck. It came with flour crepes to wrap, just like Peking duck! At least we have something to fill us up.

hand-shredded fried duck (half portion) $28+

Actually, I don't think it was hand-shredded. Look at how evenly those meats are cut up. Anyway, meat wraps are nice with the sauce and shredded cucumber and spring onions.

wrap it up and nom

They do have dim sum menu but you may need to request for it. Our waitress had forgotten to bring it together with its other menus till we saw dim sum being brought out from the kitchen and asked about it.

We were in a group of 3 and the meal above costs about $26+ per pax.

The Marmalade Pantry @ Oasia Hotel

Taking over the space formerly occupied by Zaffron, The Marmalade Pantry (TMP) at Oasia Hotel is a well-liked lunch destination for the corporate crowd.

Was there recently, and got to try a few more items. One complaint though. Why did they make the font on the menu so darn small and the lighting so dim... Woes of turning older.

Ordered a couple of items to share. Let's try the breads; The Marmalade Club Sandwich of honey baked ham, roast chicken, eggs, lettuce, tomatoes and were there dried cranberries or raisins? Served, with sweet potato fries with chili and ketchup dips.

The Marmalade Club Sandwich @ $22++

Those whom had dined at The Marmalade Pantry before, recommends pasta. TMP has six pasta options currently, but only two for risottos.

Seared Scallop and Prawn @ $25++

Truffle Field Mushroom Risotto @ $24++

Spicy Crabmeat @ $24++

The spicy crabmeat pasta was done al-dente with just enough sauce. The flavour was not as intense as the chili crab pasta which was had at another place recently, but I liked the addition of those pine nuts.

At The Marmalade Pantry, the desserts section made up of about half of its menu. Cakes, cupcakes, cookies, tarts, and puddings. Take your pick!

For us, we tried the Dessert Platter which was shared amongst four pax. The platter was made up of five mini items. A normal-sized dessert of the same individual item costs about $14++ each.

Dessert Platter @ $28++

Must try the Pear Bread Pudding, which is a variation of bread and butter pudding. The contrast of flaky buttery pastry, which encased a soft bread-like pudding sitting atop of the sea salt caramel sauce which had just the right amount of sweetness.

mini chocolate pudding close up

Another item which I liked, was the sticky date pudding. Pretty much sweeter than the pear bread pudding, with a bouncy texture with intense dates flavour.

mini lemon brulee tart, mini eton mess and mini sticky date pudding

Actually everything on the dessert platter was very likeable. The right size as a sampler. Downside was that it took quite a while to arrive.

Expect to spend about $50 per pax.

Tsukada Nojo 塚田農場 @ Plaza Singapura

It was on a Monday night, and long queues were forming at hotpot places. Hmm, everyone loves steamboat/hotpot? Or, was it because everyone has a craving for hotpot all of a sudden? *scratch head*

Friend had a craving for beauty pot, so went ahead and stood in-line to queue. At 730pm, the estimated waiting time was about an hour and all parties must be present in order to get a table.

Got seated at 830pm, and started with sparkling sake.

Mio Sparkling Sake 澪 (みお) @$16++ per 300ml bottle

The sparkling sake was very light and easy to drink.

collagen pot

While waiting for the collagen to dissolve into liquid, we had the Maximum Fries (マキシマム・ポテト). Yup, I did a double take. It was regular shoestring fries with sprinkling of secret powder. Japan menu says it's the seasoning spice of Miyazaki.

Apparently, there's a whole range of 'Maximum' family. Like 'Maximum' eggplant and 'Maximum' seasoned cucumber. So cutesy ya. All ended up in our stomach anyways.

was starving, so only had a chance to take picture of dips for the fries

cooked in a flash and gone equally fast - beauty pot ingredients @$25++ per pax

The branch at Plaza Singapura gave two pieces of chicken per pax, and tasted best with the chili and ginger dips. Hmmm, ain't that chicken rice without the rice?

lip smacking collagen soup

Service was friendly but downside was the one hour wait. That's quite a bummer. I think Tsukada Nojo at PS felt more like a touristy place. Table on my left were speaking in Cantonese with Hong Kong accent, while the one on my right were Indonesians. Heh, I'm a tourist too! (well, sort of)

token dessert

Paid $42 per pax for the meal.

Here's the link to Tsukada Nojo @ Westgate.