Canton Paradise, i12 Katong

I visited Canton Paradise at i12 Katong a long awhile ago but I procrastinated blogging about it because it left such a poor memory. Generally, I am more fond of sharing good food and awesome experiences as compared to lousy places and wasted calories.

Canton Paradise is an exemplary example of wasted calories. The restaurant, situated in the basement of i12 Katong, boasts a sleek clean deco with a dark interior and nice plush seats. The only perk is that they serve dim sum for dinner, which is quite a rare thing as most dim sum restaurants stop serving dim sum after lunch. However, I assure you, the only perk ends there. I would definitely try to control my dim sum craving in future and visit either East Ocean or Imperial Treasure over the weekend instead.

The egg tart was hard and cold and it lacked the usual flaky crust that I enjoy. The char siew baked bun was probably the only thing in the entire meal that was passable. The crust was kind of thick but it tasted pretty all right. 

The shrimp dumpling (har gao) had a very thick "skin" and the prawn within was not big and juicy like how good dim sum should be. The fried shrimp roll was very dry and I had the same grouse about the prawn - it was not juicy at all! The cheong fun (rice roll) was average but really, how could you go wrong with rice rolls. I felt that the glutinous rice in lotus leaf and E-Fu noodle were both average.

It was such an average and disappointing meal that I would never think about returning again.

112 East Coast Road

Omakase Burger at Grandstand

The boyfriend and I went to the gym last Sunday. Since I was sick for the first half of August, I did not step into a gym for close to 3 weeks! So I was really looking forward to hitting the gym. On hindsight, that would probably be the only time I'm in the gym this August since I'm down with a flu now. I don't know what is with this bug that refuses to go away!

So the boyfriend took me to Grandstand at the old Turf Club after gymming. I haven't been to the Grandstand and was quite excited to be exploring a new location. The good thing about parking at Grandstand is that parking is free, while the bad thing is that the parking area is exposed to the scorching sun without any shade at all. So your car becomes an oven really quickly.

There were many eateries and restaurants at the Grandstand. I was so surprised! It was like a major food mecca. A friend previously recommended Omakase Burger as a worthy rival to the De Burg Burger. Another friend strongly recommended their truffle fries. So I decided to try Omakase Burger!

It operates like a fast food joint where you order your burger at the counter, receive a buzzer and wait for your buzzer to start ringing. Then you approach the serving counter to retrieve your burger.

The boyfriend had the Omakase Cheeseburger while I had the Omakase Chicken Sandwich. We also had a large truffle fries. The boyfriend commented that his Omakase Cheeseburger was too small and tasted really average.

My Omakase Chicken Sandwich was really small too. The chicken fillet was quite juicy but overall the burger tasted really ordinary. There was nothing exceptionally special about the Omakase Chicken Sandwich. I was quite disappointed by this burger actually.

The truffle fries were really fragrant and crispy. But it was crazy oily. It was good that they used a lot of truffle oil which is evident from the pungent aroma coming from the fries but the pool of truffle oil at the bottom of the plate was quite alarming. That and the cloying taste of oil that burst out from the fries when I bit into it. We had the large serving of truffle fries and I felt quite sick of it when we finished half a plate.

To me, Omakase Burgers is nowhere close to where De Burg Burger stands. The portion of the burger is small and there is nothing exciting about Omakase's burgers. Unlike De Burg which offers many different exotic flavours in their burgers, the selection of burgers at Omakase is really boring.

After finishing lunch at Omakase Burger, we took a stroll around Grandstand and went to explore Pasar Bella. Oh wow, stepping into Pasar Bella is like going into an entirely different world! Dimly-lit with a large variety of small shops selling different food items like paella, roasted meats, wines, and even a counter with fresh seafood! I was so amazed. Will definitely return to Grandstand to try Pasar Bella.

This was taken inside Pasar Bella. How awesome.

Other than food, there is really nothing much at Grandstand other than a few kiddy stores and indoor playground for kids. Awesome place for families on Sundays!

#01-05 The Grandstand

200 Turf Club Road

Folks Collective, China Square

I was completely out of action for close to two weeks. Came down with what I thought was food poisoning two weeks ago but the slight fever persisted and refused to go away. Over the weekend, the situation deteriorated and by Sunday I was running a high fever and couldn't keep my food down. Paid a fateful visit to the hospital but it was another five more days before my fever subsided. So I was having a fever for almost two weeks! Incredibly scary. Took a long while to recover as well and it was another week before I could start eating more solid food. Even now my appetite is probably half of what it once was. 

Last friday I was feeling much better so I went to meet some friends for dinner. Folks Collective at China Square was suggested. It had been a year since I left work in the CBD area and to be frank, I've never looked back since. It's been long since I had dinner in the area too so I agreed and took the short stroll from my office to China Square.

Folks Collective is more accurately described as being along Nankin Row. If you are following Google Maps, you run the risk of ending up around the corner instead. So just remember to locate Nankin Row and Folks Collective is somewhere down the row of restaurants.

The deco at Folks Collective is very quaint and does not feel like a place which serves thai cuisine. It looks more like a gastrobar or a cafe than a thai restaurant. Just look at that cute red vespa and eye-catching posters all around the restaurant. It just screams a totally different vibe and not one you would associate with thai food.

The chicken wings were awesome. Well-fried, juicy and delicious.

The Chicken Green Curry was all right. Tasted like any other average green curry. The egg plant was a little too hard for my liking though. I'm used to having slightly mushy egg plants in my green curry.

The awesome phad thai. This one was good. It was not too sweet, with just the right amount of sauce and the noodles were springy and chewy.

Sambal Kang Kong which was pretty ordinary. I mean, how different can a plate of Kang Kong be, right? The bomb lies in that small plate at the back - Sun dried pork. It was marvelous! It tasted like lean pork cracklings! It was crispy, chewy, not oily and not fatty at all. It tasted more like a snack than a main dish and I can totally imagine myself chewing on the sun-dried pork happily in front of my favourite Running Men.

We ordered tom yum soup too and took the clear version because our tummies don't really agree with the coconut milk. Folks Collective was generous with the ingredients and there was a huge serving of mushrooms and seafood in the soup. I'm particularly fond of mushrooms in tom yum soup. I love how the tom yum soup explodes in your mouth when you chew on a juicy slice of mushroom.

This is an awesome place to drop by for dinner if you work in the area. It is especially attractive as a dinner location on Friday when everywhere else is mad crowded. We made a reservation for our dinner on Friday but I'm sure we would have been able to secure a table even if we had not. 

#01-25 China Square Central

Rubato Modern Italian Trattoria

A good friend's recommendation took us to Rubato at 3 Clover Way, near Marymount MRT station. I took the Circle Line from Paya Lebar to Marymount. Rubato is a short walk away among a cluster of private properties. 

I am always amazed to find such little restaurants in obscure locations. Cajun Kings was another mind-blowing restaurant nestled among private properties. I was really anticipating dining at Rubato since reviews sounded awesome and I enjoyed eating at places which are secluded and remote. 

It was all about risotto that day so I had the seafood risotto while the good friend had crab risotto. My seafood risotto was a little too heavy and became too cloying towards the end. They were generous with the seafood and I had a large serving of clams, mussels and prawns. 

The good friend's crab risotto. Rubato mixed the crab meat within the rice grains so the crab risotto was not as smooth as mine. However, because the crab meat was mixed within the risotto, it lacked the punch which huge chunks of crab meat would have been able to deliver. I would have preferred it if they had cooked the crab meat in chunks instead of mincing it and mixing it within the risotto.

Chocolate fondant because I'm a huge fan of chocolate lava cake and because tiramisu was not a chef's recommendation. I am obviously of the opinion that the chef would have a better idea as to what constitutes awesome food in his own restaurant. The chocolate fondant was average. The chocolate lava did not ooze out of the cake steadily like I expected and it seemed a little over-baked because the exterior was really hard.

I wouldn't recommend making a trip to Rubato just for the food here because I find the food really average. Unless you have friends or family living in the area, or you are studying or teaching in the Raffles area, I don't reckon anyone should make a purposeful trip to Rubato to eat. However, Rubato is really quiet and secluded, so if you would like to have a private chat and you aren't too concerned about the food, Rubato is the place to go. 

3 Clover Way

Shabu Sai at Orchard Central

It was the boyfriend's birthday last month and his friends very kindly brought us to Shabu Sai at Orchard Central for a dinner celebration. I really like steamboat buffet because we can eat a lot and I am very fond of the soup bases in steamboat! So we arrived in high spirits.

The prices of the steamboat buffet are stated above. You can add $1.99 for free flow drinks which was what we did. The mushrooms, vegetables and sushi were arranged neatly along the counter and kept fresh with the constant flow of cold air from the fridge. I particularly love the large range of mushrooms which they offered. It was really a field day for a mushroom lover like myself. 

The meat was delivered fresh from the freezer to your table when you order them. The slices of meat were thin since its a shabu shabu restaurant and arrived at your table in neatly arranged rows on small black trays. The arrangement was immaculate! And I like the fact that the meat comes straight from the freezer. Keeps it fresh. You can choose between pork, beef, and chicken. Some of us had pork and chicken while the others had beef. 

As for soup bases, each table had a choice of two. Our table had the spicy and tonkotsu shoyu soup bases. The tonkotsu shoyu soup base was incredibly salty! We were told to add plain water to dilute the stock base but no matter how much water we added, the soup base was still really salty. The spicy one was not spicy at all. It tasted pretty mild and quite yummy. So no surprise that I preferred cooking the meat in the spicy soup base. 

It's a convenient location and a good comfortable place to have a steamboat buffet. Shabu Sai seemed a little short on staff when we visited but other than that, it was a decent experience. Thank you to the boyfriend's friends for the birthday celebration for him! :) 

Orchard Central #08-09/10/11

Maekhong Thai Cuisine, Tanjong Katong Road

The last time I came by was about a year ago and I never got around to writing a review for that time. I can't remember why I neglected to do so but I highly suspect it had something to do with laziness. We were trying to decide on a place to eat and I suddenly thought of Maekhong Thai because the thai food was respectable and the prices were kind on the purse. And boy do I need to rein in my expenses on food. Every time I glance at my credit card bills, I will grimace helplessly at the amount of money I spend just on food. I hardly shop and all I do is EAT. 

So yes Maekhong Thai. It was a pretty hilarious night. The best friend forgot to alight at the bus stop and ended up on the expressway which took her all the way to Bugis instead. So she had to take the bus back to the Parkway area. As for me, I reached on time but I had a hard time trying to cross the street. I ended up taking a ten minute walk to the nearest traffic light to cross the road. 

I settled in and decided on the orders via whatsapp with her. We decided on a few dishes and I ordered once she told me she was in the area. Between the two of us we decided on Phad Thai, Pineapple Fried Rice, Tomyam Seafood Soup, and Fried Kangkong with Sambal. 

Phad Thai was not bad. Very sweet and smooth, not spicy, and with a generous amount of seafood. The seafood is really fresh and crunchy!

The tomyam soup was large! It came in a huge pot filled with various seafood like squid, prawns and fish and the tom yam soup was awesome! Sweet, sour and spicy all at once. I really like tom yam soup. It's definitely one of my favourite thai dishes.

Pineapple fried rice was average but I like it that they were very generous with the pineapple chunks added to the dish.

Maekhong Thai Cuisine is definitely not as awesome as Ah Loy Thai but it serves as a good place to have a casual after-work meal. It's satisfying, reasonably-priced, and not crowded so you can sit around for a nice chat after pigging out. 

266 Tanjong Katong Road

The Halia at Raffles Hotel

An awesome friend took us to Halia at Raffles Hotel for lunch and I was so stuffed when I came out, I was struggling not to slip into a food coma on my way back to the office. But the food was fantastic! Halia has a lunch set and an ala carte menu. We opted for the ala carte orders and had a couple of side orders and one big plate each.

The deep-fried squid. Chewy and deliciously crispy.

Foie gras salad. I'm not a big fan of foie gras but the greens were crunchy and yummy.

Polenta coated asparagus and truffle fries. The asparagus was all right, quite refreshing to have deep-fried crunchy asparagus. The truffle fries were awesome! I love truffle fries. They are just so fragrant and delicious.

My big plate was the Halia Chili Crab which was chili crab spaghetti. It was really good. Al dente spaghetti tossed in a thick delicious chili crab sauce.

Some of my friends took the Baharat Chicken Leg. It was not bad, but nowhere near as delicious as the Halia Chili Crab. I would definitely advise going for the Halia Chili Crab if you are having your meals in Halia.

#01-22/23 Raffles Hotel