The Tempted Palate's blog

Melben Seafood – Claypot Crab Bee Hoon a must try!

As crab enthusiasts, my family and I decided to head to Melben Seafood (Ang Mo Kio). As this place is known for crabs, we decided to order only crabs - Claypot Crab Bee Hoon, Black Pepper, Creamy Butter and Salted Egg crabs. The other dishes are common to what we may find at Zhi Char stores and they are not cheap to start with.

The specialty had to be Claypot Crab Bee Hoon! The crabs served in this style were the freshest among the lot. It was further enhanced by the richness of the stock. This is a must try. When orders are taken, they would usually ask if you like a top up of soup and bee hoon. This may not be necessary especially if you have other dishes. The other thing is that the extra Bee Hoon are usually tougher and dry. So they do not necessarily add on to the dining experience.

It would also be good to try the creamy butter crabs! The sauce is appetizing to start with. As the name would suggest, the taste was rich. Besides that, it also goes well with rice!

Black pepper crabs were delightful as well.

Salted egg crabs were a little overdone though. We would have ordered it to be done in another style.

Prior to the visit, we were mentally prepared for long queues. A word about queue. We reached at 7pm on a weekday evening. The queue was already quite a sight! After about more than an hour, we were finally seated. It was another hour of wait before the crabs were served. Unanimously we concluded we should head to this restaurant after 9pm in the future.

Melben Seafood

233 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3

Tel: 65 6285 6762

Jang Shou Korean BBQ at Esplanade

Parked along the Makansutra street at the Esplanade area, Jang Shou Korean BBQ is a restaurant teeming with people!

As with most Korean restaurants, you will find a slew of side dishes to tempt the palates.

 


One can't miss out on the kimchi after coming all the way.

The chilled salad, coupled with a reddish orange dressing, was simply refreshing. It also clears and make way for the BBQ items.

For the BBQ,there is a wide range of meat to choose from. The perk of dining at Jang Shou is that the staff would BBQ the items for you. It's indeed a luxury for you are able to simply chat away with your dinner mates.

Besides having the BBQ option,diners could order cooked items. The seafood pancake was quite good though they missed out on the order. If you are into vegetables,this may be something you don't want to miss.

The Kim Chi Hotpot brimmed with ingredients such as mushroom,spinach,pork slices and white cabbage. It was piping hot and ideal for soup lovers.

It's ideal to make reservations before visiting!

Jang Shou Korean BBQ

8 Raffles Avenue, #01-13B

Esplanade Mall

Website: http://www.colours.com.sg/jangshou.htm

Cedele Bakery - Destination for cakes

We celebrated a friend’s birthday in church today and the cake is from none other than Cedele Bakery. It has almost become the default place I go to for cakes.

The cakes are priced slightly higher than normal bakeries (e.g. BreadTalk and the likes). At the same time, it is more affordable than cakes from Canele and Patissier.

The birthday girl had a Chocolate Truffle Cake (SGD43.80). It was awesome. The dark chocolate cake was rich and most of us were enjoying the texture of the cake. If only it was colder though!

On some previous occasions, I ordered

Apple Nut Cheesecake - As you start on the cake, you would not miss the ting of cinnamon. I like it how you could taste the chunks of apples.

Chocolate Banana Espresso Cake - Although I am not a coffee person, I found the cake to be a little electric. Perhaps it is to do with the combination of chocolate and espresso. The caramelized banans and waluts added much flavour too.

Read more about the cakes at the site for Cedele.

Cedele Bakery

#01-01/02 Novena Square

Tel:  65 6258 5991

Website: http://www.cedeledepot.com

Lao Beijing 老北京食堂 - Norther Chinese fare at Novena

Lao Beijing (老北京食堂), under the Tung Lok group, serves Northern Chinese fare. Have visited this place for a set meal in 2008. It was quite a pleasant experience so I was all for it when my family suggested that place.

Besides, Tung Lok has been having a series of promotions by vouchers! If you spend up to 50, 100 or 200 on ala carte items, you could enjoy 50% discount respectively!

The best dish has got to be Soon Hock (SGD48.00). It was of supreme freshness. The sauce also goes very well with the fish.

Shanbei Chicken (SGD12.00) was served in a claypot. Shanbei chicken has also been one of my favourite dishes. So I was glad to find it on the menu. I find that it can be stronger in the taste.

The portion of Beijing Duck (SGD24.00) was quite generous. The wrap for Beijing Duck was rather unique and it is probably made of eggs.

Pork Shank (SGD22.00) was quite well braised. Worth a go at it.

The other dishes were rather mediorce:

Mushroom with Broccoli (SGD16.00)

Egg Skin Beancurd (SGD12.00)

Jelly Fish (SGD4.00)

Shark’s Fin (SGD28.00) was a disappointment. The way it is served does not make it easy to eat either. The stock was average too. Quite a boo hoo.  

We ordered two sets of Xiaolong Bao (SGD8.00). Little did we know that there were 8 Baos in a set. We were surprised how the waitress did not advise us against it.

When we tried to order the desserts, quite a number of items were out of stock. So we only ordered Mango Sago Pomelo (SGD5.00) and Herbally Jelly (SGD5.00).

The former was a let down and the sago was not even well cooked. The herbal jelly on other hand was quite good apparently.

Lao Beijing 老北京食堂

238 Thomson Road #02-11/12

Novena Square

Singapore 307683

Tel: 65 6358 4466

Website: www.laobeijing.com.sg/

Cedele Depot - More than just cakes

Cedele Depot is not just a place for cakes. They are also serve a range of main courses, pastas, pancakes, breakfast sets, sandwiches and greens!

I was delighted when I had a go at the food in the cafes. The portions were relatively large. The dishes were prepared in a healthy manner. My friends and I found the taste rather exceptional.

My personal favorite is Chicken Portobello sandwich (SGD14.80). You get to choose the choice of bread. This sandwich goes exceptionally well with walnut bread. However, the walnut bread is always not available at the chain at Wheelock. The sandwich is packed with generous portions of Chicken and Portobello. Yum! An extra incentive for mushroom fans.

The wild blueberry pancakes (SGD12.90) was also delightful. There were three pancakes in all, proving to be too much for lunch! The soft pancakes were littered with bits of blueberry. Definitely a good to try for pancakes fanatics.

Rosemary Sea Salt (SGD21.90) was one of the other dishes we ordered. It must have tasted good with potato slices!

If you like a quick look at the menu, here it is!  

Cedele Depot

501 Orchard Road

#03-14 Wheelock Place

Singapore 238880

Tel: 6732 8520

Website: http://www.cedeledepot.com

Theme restaurants in Hong Kong - Modern Toilet and Charlie Brown

Out of novelty I decided to check out two theme restaurants.

Modern Toilet originates from Taiwan and is located at Mongkok.

One can't miss the toilet concept at all! From the restaurant fittings to the cutlery to the names of the food. It is everywhere!

Given the concept it would naturally attract many youngsters. So it maybe good to be early.

It may be very interesting on the onset. But it becomes a little sick after a while. Imagine drinking from a glass urinal.

The food served is rather mediocre.

This is probably a place where you wil visit once and that is it.

Charlie Brown cafe is a neat setup located at a few busy districts.

Would be good if you are a Snoopy or Charlie Brown fan.

If you've guessed it already they serve the western fare. Can't quite remember the taste of the food.Here is a snapshot:

But the theme is probably more interesting than the food is!

Modern Toilet

240-244 Portland Street Room 3B,

Mongkok

Website: http://www.moderntoilet.com.tw/en/in

Tel: +852 2308 1166

Charlie Brown

G/F-1/F, Kok Pah Mansion,

58-60 Cameron Road

Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2366 6315

Yum Cha - Tao Heung and Maxim's Palace

One of the lifestyle habits in Hong Kong is to have morning tea (yum cha).

It is easy to get the dim sum from the tea restaurants. One of the restaurant frequented by the locals is Dao Xiang. They have at least 8 to 10 restaurants. Went to the one at TST from a local's recommendation.

Ah.. The hustle and bustle of the dim sum restaurants is a factor you love or hate at once. The range of dim sum was wide and you can just keep ordering.

Someone told us a tip about the steamboat practice for this restaurant. You get to enjoy 50% discount if you come after 9pm.

Maxim Palace is slightly more upscale as it is on Hong Kong Island.

The roasted meat is really tender and juicy. It simply melts in the mouth.

The carrot cake is rather different from the ones in Singapore. They are steeped in sauce.

We also ordered many other items:

 

As it is near the business district, the restaurant is rather packed. Maybe good to head to restaurant earlier to avoid the queues.

稻香集團 Tao Heung

尖沙咀加拿芬道20號加拿芬廣場3樓

Website: http://www.taoheung.com.hk

美心皇宫 Maxim's Palace

香港中區大會堂低座2樓

Website: www.maxims.com.hk

Tao Heung - Steamboat in Hong Kong

Tao Heung is a chain of Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong serving dim sum in the morning and steamboat in the evening. What's a thrill is that steamboat is at 50% discount after 9pm.

Making a reservation is crucial to ensure a table. The restaurant was packed to the brim even though it's way past 9pm.

The variety to choose from is rather rich. Half the time we were not quite sure what we were ordering. One of the errors made was in ordering this gigantic fish head. Help! How do we finish that?

The quality of the food is rather high. The prawns were still fidgeting when they were released into the hotpot. Oh what freshness is this.

The rice vermicelli bundle is tasty and delightful: 

Even though we were full, we parked space for desserts! A must try is the mango pomelo dessert.

I recommended this restaurant to a colleague who also visited HK. She was so pleased with the recommendation and suggested that the others should check it out too!

稻香集團 Tao Heung

尖沙咀加拿芬道20號加拿芬廣場3樓

Website: http://www.taoheung.com.hk

 

Hung Kee Seafood Restaurant (洪记海鲜酒家) - Sai Kung

If you are on a seafood hunt in Hong Kong,you cant miss out on Sai Kung. There are so many seafood restaurants at a stretch. It can be rather overwhelming for a new comer. There are waitresses trying to entice you to settle for a meal in the restaurants they work in. They are also busy distributing leaflets with info about the  set meals.

We eventually gave in to Hung Kee Seafood Restaurant when we saw the mega tanks of live seafood!

In our poor Cantonese,we tried to order and gesture at the seafood we are keen to get. The order would all go into a pail and straight to the kitchen.

It was an endless line up of fresh seafood!The favorite dish has to be the lobster. Slurp. Little did we know that it goes well with cheese.

The scallops were also of high caliber. And it is not expensive at all. We could not resist a second helping.

The fish was of absolute freshness. Hardly taste that extent of freshness in some of the local seafood chains.

We were also taught that the set meals are relatively cheaper for the ingredients may not be optimal. What an unexpected lesson it was!

Although there were negative reviews about this restaurant when we were doing our research, it turned out to be better than expected. If I were to return, I'm likely to check this place out again.

Hung Kee Seafood Restaurant (洪记海鲜酒家)

Shop 6 & 9-10, G/F,

Siu Yat Building,

Sai Kung Hoi Pong Square

Tel: 2792 1348

Margarita's - Mexican at Dempsey Hill

One way to kill Monday blues is to have a fabulous dinner with a brunch of good friends!

We did so by popping by Margarita's at Dempsey Hill. Felt a little apprehensive as the online reviews were not fantastic. It turned out to be a pleasant meal!

The vegetarian nachos started us on the Mexican fare. Probably good if you are a nachos fan.

I like the appetizer better - it's a slight wrap with warm cheese and mushroom. The combi is just delightful.

After which, I started to feel that maybe the online reviews were subjective.

The main dishes were served about twenty minutes later. As it was a large group, we were able to order a variety of main dishes:

Desserts were rather mediocre. They are good to have if you are already eating in the restaurant. Mind you,the tiramisu was HUGE!

If I were to be in Dempsey in the near future, I may try the food again. Perhaps it is not bad an idea to try the other Margarita's outlets.

Margarita's

Blk 11 Dempsey Road 

#01-19 Tanglin Village (Dempsey Road)

Tel: 65 6471 3228