Lo Hei Dinner- Golden Peony

YY was back in town, and we went for our regular Lo Hei dinner, with Polo. For the 3rd year running, i-banker has not been able to join us for the dinner. (She came to join us when we were having our dessert, so still not too bad)


At first we wanted to go to Peach Blossoms or Huating. However, both restaurants were fully booked as it was the 7th day of Chinese New Year- So we had to settle for Golden Peony restaurant in Conrad instead.

YY was concerned about a dress code for dining at Golden Peony. She received assurance from Polo that jeans was acceptable (Polo was also in jeans), and when i turned up in the ultimate combination of Polo T-shirt, Jeans and sneakers, she realized her worry was unfounded.

We had the Salmon Yu Sheng for Lo Hei.  Golden Peony was very thoughtful and provided extra long chopsticks for Lo Hei, probably was one of the advantage of a 5 stars hotel.  Unfortunately, I could not manage the long chopsticks, and had to use the normal ones. The Yusheng was very good, fresh salmon, with perfect sauce, not too sweet or too oily.

Dish 2 - Herbal Roast Duck. Well, we couldn't really taste the "herbal" taste. Polo & I thought that was just a normal roast duck, and was full of praise about the crispy skin.  We did not realized that it was Herbal Roast Duck until YY said the herbal taste was good!

Dish 3 - The curry spices + egg yolk prawn.  Prawns were very fresh and crunchy, and the batter had a hint of curry taste.   Prawns were de-shelled, so good for lazy people :-)

Dish 4- The vegetable dish was quite normal. A few golden mushrooms with bamboo and some baby choi sum cost $6 each!  Hmm.. not worthy for a photo..haha

The worst dish of the night was the Mango Pomelo, at $8, it was diluted and the strawberries were very sour! We were so disgruntled at the mango pomelo, we were expecting much better quality, given that Golden Peony is a Cantonese restaurant, and Mango Pomelo supposed to be a signature dish in Cantonese Restaurant. Maybe it was a better choice to choose the double boiled Cheng Teng! Haha

Overall: 7/10. Would i return? Yes, but probably they would not welcome us. We were so noisy that we attracted some unwanted stares from our neighbours. Of course, we were oblivious to the stares :-) It was at night of fun and laughter, and we ended it with beer and fries from Balaclava, though we have complained 20 minutes ago that we were very full!

Sad news - Friend's mum deceased

Received a sad news this afternoon, that my friend's mum has passed away this morning, after battling with cancer for about 6 months.  I remembered that i was very shocked when i received the news on 15 Aug 2009 that her mum has been diagnosed with cancer, terminal stage.  Her mum has been always healthy, and there has been no signs of cancer. 
I remembered her mum as someone very bubbly and zesty.  When my friend's sister celebrated her birthday in Lunar, her mum was also very sporting to join in the celebration.  That was the last i saw her.
Even when she was been diagnosed with cancer, she was not angry, neither did she ask why God let her have cancer.   She said that if it is God's will that she pass on this way, she will accept it. 
I pray that she is happy in Heaven.

CNY Phototaking in Chinatown

CNY period, went down with A & J to take photo of the vibrant night market in Chinatown, and to soak in the CNY atmosphere!
And thanks to J, i learnt how to take stars :-)

Jap Food Day

Have you ever try a day of feasting, and on the same cuisine?  Well, that's what i did.  I had both Jap food for lunch and dinner on the same day! Heehee..and in between, I had a ham & cheese toast from Toastbox.

Ham & Cheese toast with coffee at $3.40.  The cheese melted, bread was crispy, and with the ham, this is one of the best thing that $3.40 can buy.  Toastbox can be found in major shopping centers, only complain is that their service is very very slow..L & i used to say that if someone is very slow, that person is very toastbox.

Lunch was at Ippudo Ramen.  To avoid the crowd, i went around 2pm.  The place was rather empty at 2pm, and service was very prompt.  They were also very frienly towards photography, one of the waiter actually stopped moving when he saw that i was taking photo of the restuarant. 

 Shiromaru Classic

The lgendary Ippudo Ramen was not as good as i thought.  Probably my benchmark was those in Japan.  I had the Shiromaru Classic- Original recipe tonkotsu soup served with thin noodles, Rosu chashu (Pork Loin), cabbage, kikurage & scallions.  The broth was thick, but the ramen was a bit hard.  I chose the normal one, perhaps next time i should try the soft one.  The egg was not seasoned enough..and at $2 for an egg, a bit overpriced.

Total damage $20 for a ramen...hmmm  maybe no next time

Ippudo SG:

Mandarin Gallery

333A Orchard Road
#04-02/03/04
Singapore 238867
http://www.ippudo.com.sg/index.php

Dinner was at Tampopo in Liang Court with the M&M.  M was giving a treat to celebrate her converting to perm...Celebration Dinner! :-)
I had the Tonkatsu set.  Their tonkatsu is one of the best in town, crispy and not oily, and the meat is tender & soft, and go really well with the mustard! M&M had other food, which i couldn't tell the name..so look at the picture below..I skipped my fav Sashimi this time, as i did not want to burn a hole in M's pocket.

Macha Sponge Cake- Must try.  Soft and can taste the macha, the creamy is rich and not too greasy.

Overall 8/10.  Total damage about $85 for 3 person, very reasonable for such quality food.

Tampopo Restaurant
#01-23/24, 177 River Valley Road S(179030)
Liang Court Shopping Center
Tel: 6338 3186

http://www.cfc.com.sg/

I ended my day with a rootbeer float from Wendy's.  But sorry, no picture!  Cheers

Malacca Feb 2010

Having heard so much about Malacca's Chicken Rice Ball, the first thing i wanted to try was the chicken rice ball.  It so happened that one of the branch was near the hotel that i stayed, so made a beeline for it.

But it was disappointing. The rice balls were hard and cold, tasteless.  The roasted chicken was normal, not crispy at all.. :-(  sigh so much for the famous chicken rice balls...

On the way back from Mal-SIN, the bus had a punctured tyre, and had to make a stop to repair the tyre.  I was happy as I needed the toilet quite urgently, so I considered a punctured tyre a blessing! Haha (Usually no rest stop for journey from MAL-SIN)

Malacca is so much smaller than i thought.  I imagined the Portugese settlement to be bigger, but in reality, it is really small, of walking distance.  From my hotel to the city centre is only a 15 mins walk..

St Francis Xavier's Church: 

 

Christ Church. 

Built in 1753 by the Dutch to commemorate a century of their rule.

 

Jonker Walk:

I was blessed with a beautiful sunset right after my swim.  Took this at the hotel 9th storey swimming pool.  I love sunrise and sunset, esp sunset, these are the 2 timing that you can look at the sun directly and be amazed at the Creator's creation.

My room in Renaissance

La Strada Lunch

La Strada, a restaurant under Les Amis Group, offers a 2 course set lunch at $28++ and 3 course set lunch at $34++ set lunch.  Since i am idling, i went with T to try out their set lunch.

You can choose from a list of starter, main course and dessert.  We chose the 2 course set lunch.  T had the starter and main course, and I had the main course and dessert because I could not resist my favourite Tiramisu.

We started with the usual bread basket served with olive oil.  Very normal.  What is worth mentioning is the complimentary pizza.

Smoke salmon with yoghurt dill dressing

 beef sirloin

Tiramisu

Overall 7.5/10 for lunch for the value.  If your pocket allows, try the dinner.

La Strada

1 Scotts Road

#02-10/11 Shaw Centre
Tel: +65 6737 2555